Bring Me Down
by LittleMissSunshine.x0
Summary: Renee died and Bella moves in with an abusive Charlie. She befriends Alice and Emmett, while Edward, along with his beautiful vampire girlfriend, hates Bella.
1. Chapter 1

APOV:

I stepped out of my car and looked around the parking lot for the new student. Apparently Chief Swan's daughter was going to be going to school here now. No one knows much about her or why she's coming, apparently Charlie really hasn't talked about it.

I soon spotted a small girl sitting alone on a bench staring off into space and pointed her out to my family.

"So that's the new girl, huh?" Emmett asked, probably sizing her up.

I took a hard look at the girl. She was very pretty for a human, although slightly overweight- with long, straight brown hair, a heart shaped face and large, chocolate colored eyes- but there was sadness about her. Something about having a face so cleanly wiped of emotion brought out all the pain in her eyes. It was heartbreaking; I couldn't take my eyes away.

"She looks so sad." I mumbled.

Emmett nodded solemnly in agreement. The girl opened her door and stepped out. She was wearing a baggy gray long sleeve shirt and a pair of loose fitting jeans. Her arms were wrapped lightly around her stomach as she walked away.

Just then Rosalie and Jasper arrived. Jasper came up and wrapped an arm around me and gave Emmett and me a weird look. "Why's everyone so down?"

"We just saw the new girl." I whispered.

"Oh," He said as he steered us towards the same direction the girl walked off in.

Edward and Jocelyn quickly caught up with us. They were probably making-out in the back of the car like usual. And I don't need to be a psychic to know that- anyone could tell by their disheveled clothes and hair. They only ever seemed to be physical with each other. You'll never see them talking or just cuddling. But as far as I know, Edward and she haven't gone all the way. At least he has some common sense.

Sure, Jocelyn's beautiful. She has white blonde strait hair that stopped choppily at her shoulders and an elfin face but that was it. She had the emotional range of a teaspoon and couldn't hold a conversation for longer then a minute unless it was about her self. She was more self centered the Rosalie.

I heard Edward growl. Of course he had been reading my mind. I rolled my eyes. It wasn't exactly a secret that no one in our family likes her except Edward, who probably only likes how she looks and kisses.

EPOV:

Jocelyn removed her lips from mine hastily and I almost fell forward. She giggled and kept walking while I stared after her perfect form like a puppy dog. She was so unbelievably hot! It made me hate school all the more. What a waste of time! We've never gone all the way; she wants to and she's definitely hot enough to make me want to. But I'm waiting for that click. The one that tells me I'm head over heels in love with her. I know I don't love her and she doesn't expect to be told she's loved- which is a good thing because I don't think I can lie to her. Maybe if we had an actual conversation love would be plausible.

I quickly caught up with her and laced my fingers with hers, a sweet gesture, but it wasn't enough. She dropped my hand and wrapped her arm around my waist. I sighed but kept walking.

_She has the emotional range of a teaspoon and can't hold a conversation for longer then a minute unless it was about her self. She is more self centered the Rosalie. _Alice's thoughts floated through my head and I involuntarily let out a growl. I may not love Jocelyn but I will stick up for her.

Alice rolled her eyes at me but kept walking. That's weird; she usually puts up more of fight then that.

BPOV:

"You stupid bitch, don't be late to school! You don't get to eat you fat-ass!" Charlie screamed at me with a slap on my cheek. I felt tears involuntarily spring to my eyes and I rushed out the door. That's the last time I ever try to eat a banana before school while Charlie's home.

As I walked to school, Charlie wouldn't dream of buying me a car and I didn't have money to get one myself yet, I nearly chewed my bottom lip off I was biting it so hard. I was unbelievably nervous for the first day of school. I only wanted to keep to myself and stay the same wallflower I have been all my life. But judging by the size of Forks, blending in will be nearly impossible.

I finally made it to school and I found the front office easily. I got my schedule and sat on a bench. After a while of trying to memorize it I began to get distracted. Thinking about life, I guess. I realized that I had been crying and whipped my tears off my cheeks and my clean of emotion.

Students were beginning to arrive so I got up and headed to my first period class.

I walked into my first period class with low expectations. Only a few people talked to me; I understood and accepted that, even wanted it. They all seemed nice enough but I'd rather just blend in the ever stick out with a home life like mine.

So once I got to the class I put my head down in the teacher assigned desk and waited for class to start. I vaguely heard the chair next to mine being pulled out but then the teacher walked in and I looked up, avoiding all eyes.

I'm not even quite sure why I go to school. People like me never have a chance to get out of the same hell of a world we were born into and this was mine.

Ever since I was a little girl my life had sucked, since before I was born. When Charlie and Renee got married even then was crap but with a little more love. But then the love was gone and so was my mom, leaving a very angry Charlie and a heart-broken Renee. She got over in with alcohol and he chooses violence. Alcohol killed my mom and now I'm about to be the next one to go. It's only a matter of time, I can feel it.

"Now here's a sheet of paper that you are instructed to ask your partner as sort-of a review study guide, get started." I heard the teacher instruct and I visibly blanched.

"It's okay, I don't bite." A quiet voice that sounded like bells tinkling said. I whirled towards her with wide eyes. A small pixy like girl sat there with short black hair cropped in all directions and a timid smile on her face. All I could do was nod meekly_. Such a beautiful girl shouldn't be next to me. She belongs in heaven_, I thought.

We asked each other questions; I knew everything. She did as well. We had learned all this before in my other math class back home.

We were done far before the others and I tried hard not to look at her beautiful face.

"My name's Alice Cullen." Her enchanting voice spoke again.

I studied her face carefully, wondering if someone so beautiful could really be trusted. After a second of evaluation, I decided telling her my name wouldn't hurt.

"Isabella Swan, Bella for short." I told her and then as I was about to turn away she started talking again.

"How come you moved to Forks, Bella?" Alice asked me straight out, the only person to outright ask me.

"My mother died." I mumbled, my throat closing over from the tears threatening to fall from my eyes.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She gasped with genuine concern.

I nodded, unable to speak.

"If you need anything at all, just let me know." Alice continued to talk. She probably thought it was her fault I was upset or something and was trying to make up for it, but she seemed to be sincere.

I just nodded again and avoided her gaze, which I was almost positive was glued upon my face. We sat in silence until the bell rang shrilly, making me jump. Alice laughed lightly; it was the most delightful thing I had heard in my life.

I scrambled to my next class, thankful to be away from her. I felt so unworthy, more so then usual, next to her. She was beautiful and skinny, whereas I was plain, homely, and overweight.

I was soon on my way to lunch walking with a really nice girl named Angela.

"I have to go to the bathroom, but I'll see you there." I told her.

She nodded and I turned into one of the bathrooms and waited until I couldn't hear her anymore and then found my way to the library where I found a good book to read and settled in for the time being. There wasn't much to do in a lunchroom where you don't have any friends or money. Besides, people would just think I was anorexic. If only they knew how desperately my stomach has been begging for food the past week.

APOV:

I waited for the new girl to walk into the cafeteria but it never happened. I frowned and tried to look for her in the future and gasped in pain at what I saw.

Bella… lifeless… on the ground with bruises all over her body and blood seeping out from her slowly, forming a puddle under her back. But the most haunting thing of all was the look on her face. She looked so peaceful- no matter how sunken in and unhealthily skinny her face was- and her eyes were wide open, looking straight at me.

Edward had a shocked and shaken look on his face. I couldn't even imagine what mine looked like.

"Edward," I gasped. It's so set in stone. There's nothing changing that.

He nodded sadly. I felt like I would be crying if I could. The others just looked confused and slightly frightened of what ever had us so shaken up.

Why do people like her always have the most unfortunate endings?

_I never realized I was spread too thin  
Till it was too late and I was empty within  
Hungry, feeding on my chaos and living in sin  
Downward spiral, where do I begin?  
It all started when I lost my mother  
No love for myself and no love for another  
Searching to find a love upon a higher level  
Finding nothing but questions and devils _

Cause I'm losing my sight, losing my mind  
Wish somebody would tell me I'm fine  
Losing my sight, losing my mind  
Wish somebody would tell me I'm fine

Nothing's alright, nothing is fine  
I'm running and I'm crying  
I'm crying, I'm crying  
I'm crying, I'm crying 

**_I own nothing. :[ Last Resort by Papa Roach_**


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N: Edward will be OOC for the beginning. So if it doesn't sound like him, that's why. It will change later. You'll see. :_**

BPOV:

I walked home and did my homework and made Charlie dinner. I didn't bother to even try to sneak food. We all know how well that went the last time.

I turned on my Ipod as loud as it could go since that was all I had and danced. It had been so long since I'd done point that my weight felt strange on my toes. I couldn't remember the last time it did that.

The door slammed open downstairs and heavy footsteps followed. I immediately turned my Ipod down and hid it where Charlie had no chances of finding it and breaking it.

I listened closely. Charlie was in the kitchen, most likely eating and drinking. I decided I might as well sleep since I had nothing better to do.

Just a few hours later I was sleeping Charlie charged into my room and yanked me out of bed by my hair. I winced in pain and tried not to cry out. In some perverse way, he got more enjoyment from that.

"Get up, stop sleeping around." He slapped me.

That definitely woke me up. He shoved me to the ground and I tried to brace myself but I ended up crashing into the desk, hitting my forearms. I felt them being cut up and already bruising.

"Go buy me some more beer!" He slurred and fell over slightly.

"But, Charlie," He silenced me with another slap to my face.

"Go," He growled and pulled me up from the ground forcefully by my hurt arms.

I winced in pain and stood there, shaking slightly, as he stormed down the stairs. A loud thump was heard a few minutes later.

I walked soundlessly, carefully down the stairs to see my father passed out on the floor. I grabbed him under his arms and pulled him onto the couch. I got several pillows and a blanket and tucked my father in. A silent tear fell from my eye and landed on his cheek after I kissed him goodnight.

Just because he didn't love me or want me, didn't mean I had to feel the same way. I've always wished my father would love me back. It seemed impossible.

EPOV:

I couldn't get that girl out my head after I saw here. There was something different about her. She was the new girl, Bella Swan. No one really noticed her. She was overlooked- the shy, overweight girl that never talked.

I couldn't honestly blame them. She wasn't much to look at and she didn't appear to have much to say. But the girl in the vision… there was definitely something there then. She seemed to have a glow to her, something in her eyes I couldn't put a finger on.

Needless to say, a human- no matter how bland- beaten to death was not something easily forgotten.

BPOV:

I searched around my room frantically. There were no long sleeve shirts to be found. They were all in the washing machine and wet. I found a t-shirt and my raincoat and zipped it up all the way, feeling horribly naked and unprotected.

The walk to school was a slow one and I found my self running to make it onto to first period.

"You were so close, Miss Swan. Let's not have it happen again, shall we?" My teacher asked.

I nodded and took my seat next to the angelic girl. I was pulling off my jacket unthinkingly and put it on the back of my chair.

Alice gasped. "Bella, what on earth happened to your arms?!" She asked frantically.

I had an internal panic attack for a second before my mind quickly came up with an excuse. "I'm extremely clumsy. I fall all the time. It's no big deal." I shrugged it off and resisted the urge to hide my arms. That would only make me look guilty.

"You weren't clumsy yesterday." She eyed me carefully, skeptical.

"It was a lucky day," I mumbled. I really couldn't have her looking any closer. They were a lot bigger then normal bruises would be.

Thankfully, the air conditioner picked up noticeably and I shivered, not faking it. I shrugged back into my jacket and only half listened to the teacher the whole period.

Now I was going to have to make my self fall. Good going, Bella, I chided myself.

Once again I went to the library during lunch, feeling much more at home then any where else here in this rainy little town. My stomach growled and I clenched my fists. God, I hurt everywhere!

The rain slightly assaulted me from under my jacket. I kept my eyes down and my hood wrapped around my face as the wind blew the rain in various directions. Suddenly I ran into something very hard and cold.

"Watch it!" A voice, even velvety while angry, snarled at me.

I looked up to see a boy and a girl pressed up against the lockers together her lips kissing every inch of his neck. This faces were blurred by the rain in my eyes but even then I could tell they were horrifically beautiful.

"Sorry!" I muttered quietly, embarrassed.

His eyes suddenly changed colors and his face went from angry to hostile in a split second. I ran away, even through the fear I managed to remember to make myself trip a few times.

EPOV:

Jocelyn's lips were all over mine and she had me pushed against the lockers. She didn't even seem to mind that it was pouring rain outside. She was through with my thinking period. I guess a day with out physical contact was more then she could handle.

Suddenly we were bumped into. I looked up angrily. What kind of moron runs into people?

She looked up startled. It was the new girl.

"Watch it!" I snarled.

"Sorry!" She was quiet as usual. I found it rather bothersome that someone was so quiet, even humans- who were just annoying as rule.

She walked past me and it was then that I smelled the most delectable thing to ever walk this earth. I wanted Bella Swan's blood. It was sweet and enchanting. The smell was floral, like freesia almost.

My eyes went pitch black and I glared at her.

Sheer terror crossed her face and she scurried away.

I made a move to pounce on her but Jocelyn caught me around the waist.

"What do you think you're doing?" She hissed.

I looked into her golden eyes and everyone came back to me. My family, Carlisle- all those people… I couldn't disappoint them.

My head hung shamefully but the bloodlust was still there. I had thought of hundreds of different ways to kill Isabella in those few seconds.

"I'm going hunting. Find Alice and tell her that." I informed Jocelyn. Before she could respond I was off into the woods.

I couldn't believe what I had almost done. No matter how aggravating I found her, I just couldn't believe I almost took some innocent human's life. I was such a monster.

_It's eating me away  
It nibbles at my brain  
The question of my existence  
And the matter of pain  
I shake my fist, I shake my fist  
At the cosmos and my insignificance  
I need a reason to breathe  
It's eating me away_

**_I don't own anything. :[ Eating Me Away by Skillet. _**


	3. Chapter 3

APOV:

I quickly walked out of my class and instead of going to my usual spot to meet Jasper I went straight to the parking lot.

After hearing about Edward's little incident, I was actually glad that Jocelyn was around for once. Maybe she wasn't such a waste of space after all.

My eyes scanned the parking lot. I wasn't sure why I was doing this but I just had gut feeling that I should. I usually went with those, so here I was.

I saw Jessica flirting hopelessly with Mike while his eyes were glued to Lauren, who was following Tyler through the parking lot and trying to get his attention by calling his name. Honestly, human's made me laugh sometimes.

Then I saw something that caught my eye. Bella Swan. She was walking through the parking lot, alone- as usual. It was then that I realized I had never seen her car around. I tried to follow her direction but all it led to was the exit. Did she not have a car?

I ran at quick human speed over to her, a little unsure of what to say.

"Hello, Bella," I greeted her.

She looked around her and then back at me. It broke my heart. She instinctively thought I would be talking to someone else.

"Hi," She responded in a confused tone.

"How are you?" I asked as I shifted my books in my hand.

"Good, I guess," She responded, still confused.

"Do you have a ride home?" I searched the parking lot again but still nothing new.

"I walk home," She told me in a quiet voice. It was very pretty for a human. Her voice was soft, just like everything about her.

I frowned. That was no good.

"Do you want a ride home?" I offered. The rest of them could ride in Edward's Volvo while I drove Bella home in Rosalie's Mercedes. I guess Rosalie would just have to deal.

She shook her head. "No thanks, I don't want to be a bother."

"You wouldn't be a bother. Just wait right here while I go put my books away." And explain this to my family, I added to myself.

They definitely wouldn't be happy with me hanging out with a human, especially Rose. And we were using her car. It was almost laughable, almost- until I had to deal with her fury. If only she knew how lonely Bella was. Maybe if she had ever had to deal with that she wouldn't be in this position.

I didn't wait for her answer before walking back in the direction of the school.

"You guys have to take Edward's Volvo." I told them as soon as I saw them.

It was Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper and Jocelyn all sitting there. They all gave me strange looks.

"_Why_?" Rosalie finally asked, breaking the silence.

"I'm giving the new girl a ride home." I told them cheerfully. It's not like they could stop me.

"In my car?!" Rosalie fumed.

I nodded. Emmett barely restrained Rosalie before she could slap me. She struggled pointlessly against Emmett's iron hold.

"She doesn't have a car and I'm giving her a ride home. Don't worry Rose; I'll wash your car so thoroughly you won't even know she was in it." I answered the question before she could ask it.

She looked skeptical but let me go anyways.

"See you guys at the house!" I called happily.

I practically skipped to the parking lot only to see it basically empty, no Bella in sight. I quickly hopped into my car and drove out. I took the first road- since the only vision I could get of Bella was her dead.

Thankfully, I could see the figure of a stout girl in the distance and I revved the engine.

"Why didn't you wait for me?" I whined after I rolled down the window.

Bella looked apologetic and a crease in her forehead from frowning. "Sorry." She whispered.

"It's alright. Here, get in." I reached across the passenger seat and opened the door for her.

She carefully climbed in, as if she were afraid of me. Although, that isn't exactly irrational. She has every reason to be afraid of me, but I felt as though I could help her, that she needed me.

"Which way?" I asked when we came to a stop light.

"Go left," She said quietly.

We kept on that road for a while. The silence was overbearing. I could tell she felt uncomfortable.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked in a mystified voice.

"Because you looked like you could use a friend." I beamed at her.

Her eyes went wide and her mouth had a comical 'O' shape to it. "_You_ want to be _my_ friend?"

"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?" I was almost insulted, strangely.

"Well…look at you. You're so…" She paused.

"So… what?"

"Perfect," She sighed sadly.

"Bella, I'm far from perfect." I informed her.

"Compared to me, at least- you are. You don't want to be my friend. I've got nothing to offer." She sounded so unbelievably sad. It didn't take Jasper's power to know she was hurting deeply.

"All I want is your friendship, Bella. Please, give it a try?" I pleaded.

She nodded.

"Yippee!" I squealed.

A small smile tugged on the corner of her lips. I think it was the first time she'd even come that close to smiling I'd ever seen, probably the first time in a while.

"Turn right and then make an immediate left." She told me.

I obeyed and we were down a quaint little road with houses every once in a while.

The silence was comfortable. And I, at least, was appeased. I would make her happy or die trying. Okay, maybe that was a little melodramatic. But I would try extremely, extremely hard.

BPOV:

After Alice dropped me off, I did my daily chores in a daze. Sometimes I would have to sit down it would astound me so much.

It just didn't make sense, to be honest. Why in the world would someone like her want to be friends with someone like me? She was beautiful, talented, and smart. She was going somewhere. All I could do was cook meals fit for a drunkard and barely make a B average. I wasn't fun to be with but Alice seemed to have a personality that just popped.

No, it doesn't make sense, I agreed with myself.

The pasta was just finished cooking when Charlie got home. He took one disgusted look at me and spat at me.

"Finish and go to bed," He growled before walking into the freshly cleaned living room with a beer can.

I sniffled. Holding back tears, I did as I was told. For once in too long to remember, Charlie didn't come back up for me. Today had to be the best day I've had in too long to remember.

_I couldn't tell you why she felt that way,  
She felt it everyday.  
And I couldn't help her,  
I just watched her make the same mistakes again._

**_I don't own anything. :[ Here's another chapter for you, two in one day. I'm beastly. Ha. But you won't get another one until Monday or Tuesday because I'm going to Destin with my BFFL! Nobody's Home by Avril Lavigne._**


	4. Chapter 4

BPOV:

As I was getting undressed I noticed something in the mirror. The body didn't quite look like mine. It was too skinny. But as I twisted turned, and even touched the mirror to check, I came to realize it really was my body. Sure I still wasn't small but I was at least a few pounds lighter. Maybe the lack of food wasn't so bad after all… once you got past the gnawing hunger eating at your whole midsection.

I on deep green long sleeve t-shirt a pair of black sweatpants and went outside, tiptoeing past a still sleeping Charlie.

"Oh!" I gasped. There was a silver Volvo parked in my driveway.

Alice Cullen stuck her head out of the driver's side. "Hello, Bella, would you like a ride?" She hollered.

"Uh-"

"Great! Get in," She rolled up her window and started the car. I walked uneasily to the side.

"I thought since you didn't have a car, you'd still need a ride to school." She smiled brilliantly at me.

"Thanks," I whispered quietly. As rule, I felt awkward, out of place, and big around Alice. She was so tiny all around and unbelievably perfect.

I vowed then that I would be better for her. If she, for whatever reason at all, wanted to hang around me, then I wasn't going to be an embarrassment. Maybe I would actually look at my hair in the morning and put on a tad bit of make-up. I blushed, realizing I had no idea how to even _do_ that.

"What are you thinking about, Bella?" Alice asked me. Her golden eyes were penetrating.

I blushed deeper. "Nothing." There was no way I could possibly tell her I had no idea how to act like a pretty girl without sounding pathetic.

"Oh… alright," She sounded disappointed. I didn't want to make someone like her unhappy for any reason.

"Do you think you could teach me how to…" How to phrase that?

"Yes?" She was practically bouncing up and down in her seat with anticipation. Something told me Alice was not the kind of person with endless patience and serenity.

"Be…more…girly?" It sounded strange and out of place coming from my mouth.

"Yes, of course! You can come over to my house and I can give you a complete make-over! It will be so much fun!" She squealed, all in one breath.

I smiled timidly and hers, if that was possible, grew.

Somehow, we were already at school with her crazy driving. Or maybe the ride wasn't very long. Either way, she drove way past the legal speed limit.

APOV:

I skipped along to school while Bella slowly trailed behind me. I must admit, we were getting a lot of stares. I guess people didn't expect the 'fat, new girl' to become friends with the 'unsociable and stuck up Cullens.' I snorted, stupid rumors- if only they knew why I ignored them.

And then there's Bella. She's so beautiful- not the kind that blows you away as soon as you see her, but the more subtle kind, the lasting kind. I don't understand why people don't talk to her. She seems so lonely. I wonder why. I'd met her father once- he didn't seem like a bad man and she never speaks ill of him. Maybe it's because her mother just died. I don't remember my mother, but that always seems to shake teens up real bad.

"I'll see you in class, Bella. I have to speak to my siblings really quickly." I told her after I had walked her to class.

I zipped across the school to where we said we'd be meeting.

"Alice, how dare you give the human a ride again!?" Rosalie hissed. Well, she was supportive.

"You don't understand…" I struggled to explain it. "She's so lonely."

"You've met many lonely humans before and you've never taken an interest in them." She pointed out smugly.

"She's different. There's something else, underneath the loneliness. She's so broken…" I whispered.

My heart broke for Bella.

"We've met all kinds of humans. All they want is attention." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at her nails with little interest.

"Maybe all she needs is a friend!" I yelled in a whisper.

"You can't be friends with a human. _You're_ not human."

"Just watch me." I crossed my arms over my chest.

Emmett, Jocelyn, and Jasper watched in awe. No one ever really went up against Rosalie like I did.

"I invited her to our house tonight!" I called as I walked away, leaving them to deal with a fuming Rosalie.

BPOV:

Alice joined the class a few minutes after the bell rang and the whole time she was out I was receiving glares from the girls in my class. Once she had come back the girls quickly looked away. I was relieved to be away from their stares, no matter how brief it will probably be.

Alice and I went our separate ways after first and I had almost made it to second before someone shoved me hard from behind. I stumbled slightly- it was nothing compared to some of the shoves I've had.

"Listen closely, _Bella_." Some girl sneered as she grabbed a fistful of the collar of my shirt. I think she was an upperclassmen but I couldn't be sure. The blonde hair seemed somewhat familiar, I couldn't make out anything else against the rain. "You just stay away from Alice Cullen. I don't want you near her- you're not worth the dirt on the bottom of her feet. If I see you near her, you'll wish you were never born." She shoved me forcefully into the locker and then I heard her walk away.

I fell against the lockers and just cried. I wasn't scared of whoever had threatened me, not at all. Compared to what I got at home that would probably be nothing. But her words… they were so harsh.

She couldn't make me wish I was dead. I already did.

APOV:

"Where's Rose?" I asked as I approached the rest of my family and Jocelyn.

"'Dunno," Emmett shrugged.

"I'll go get her." I sighed and quickly weaved through the hall. It was probably my fault she didn't want to show up.

"Listen closely, _Bella_." I heard Rosalie sneer and I picked up my pace. "You just stay away from Alice Cullen. I don't want you near her- you're not worth the dirt on the bottom of her feet. If I see you near her, you'll wish you were never born."

I came just in time to see Rosalie shove Bella against the lockers with not a whole lot of force, but enough that it might bruise.

Bella looked shocked for a moment but then she just collapsed into the lockers. She was sobbing hard from the looks of it.

I stood there, torn- go after Rosalie or comfort Bella? I decided Bella was more important at the moment.

I wrapped my arms around her.

"Sh, Bella, it's okay. Don't listen to Rosalie. I still want to be your friend. Everything she said wasn't true." I hushed her.

Her sobs ebbed and then quieted all together. She rubbed her cheeks with her sleeve. "That's nice, Alice. I… I just don't think this would work out. You're so…you and I'm just not good enough." She choked out.

"That's not true! You're beautiful Bella and you deserve everything good. You're coming to my house and I'm going to make you see how pretty you are!" I grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at me.

"Okay," She sighed.

"Good," I stood up and then pulled her up too. "Now, get to class!" I ordered and then strode off after Rosalie.

She was sitting in her class, looking bored.

I rapped on the door twice and then a balding man opened the door.

"Hello, sir, I'm sorry to interrupt but there's been a slight family emergency and I was wondering if I could borrow Rosalie for just a minute?" I questioned in the sweetest voice I could manage.

He nodded. "Rosalie," He called gruffly.

"What?" She snapped as soon as the door was closed.

"You know what! How dare you threaten Bella?" I hissed at her through clenched teeth.

"She was a human that needed to be put in her place. There's no way you can invite a human to a house full of vampires! Honestly, Alice, are you insane?" Rosalie through her hands up in the air.

"Well take it up with me and don't go around threatening innocent people!"

"There's no way you would have listened to me, so I decided to take things up in my own hands." She said in a 'duh!' sort of way.

"Of course I wouldn't have listened to you! She needs me!" I yelled.

"You're insatiable!" She yelled and then stormed off to her car, where she just sat and glared at me.

Once I was sure that there was Rosalie wasn't going to be a problem anymore, I went back to class.

0 - - 0 - - 0 - - 0

I saw Bella heading off in the wrong direction for the cafeteria and quickly followed after her and grabbed her arm. She gasped and jumped into the air.

"Sorry, Bella- I didn't mean to scare you!" I apologized.

"It's alright." She pardoned shyly.

"Why aren't you going to lunch?" Come to think of it, I've never seen her at lunch- although it's only been her first week. Huh, it feels like much, _much_ longer.

"I don't have any money. I keep forgetting it at home." She said quietly.

"Well, come on. I'll pay for your lunch." I linked my arm with hers.

"Oh, no, Alice, I can't let you do that." She quickly detached herself from me.

"Please," I pouted and gave her the puppy dog eyes. No human could resist.

"Fine," She sighed.

"Yay," I put my arm through hers again and dragged her off to the cafeteria.

"Are you sure your family won't mind me?" She wondered self-consciously.

"You'll be fine." I said avoiding answering it directly. There was no need to tell her my family was a bunch of vampires that don't want a human around incase they slip up. That might freak her out a little.

"Alice…" Dang, she realized I wasn't answering. She was a smart one.

"Do you want us to sit at another table?"

She nodded quickly.

"Okay," I then bought her every item that I'd heard about humans liking, while she complained the whole way.

"Honestly, you're spending way to much." She insisted.

"Nonsense, Bella, this isn't anything at all. You should see me when I'm shopping for actual clothes. There's a large number for you." I joked.

She laughed a little. I didn't sound very forced but not exactly easy, but it was a start.

As she ate I stared at her. She looked so unbelievably sad it was hard to fathom. How could one little girl be so sad? It didn't seem fare.

"You're unhappy, aren't you?" I asked quietly once she refused to meet my gaze.

She dropped her fork and her face look worried and upset. "Oh, no, Alice, I'm sorry the food is wonderful. I like it. Don't worry." She babbled and probably would have kept going but I cut her off.

"I don't mean about the food, Bella. I mean you, your feelings. You're not happy." I clarified.

Her face was arranged carefully and her jaw was set. "What do you mean?" She spoke slowly and defensively.

"You just don't seem happy. You hardly smile or laugh."

"I just don't have anything to laugh or smile about." She countered wisely.

I just gave her a look. She wasn't going to tell me anytime soon but I was nowhere near close to giving up on it.

I changed the subject and just asked her small, easy questions about herself. Some of them she had trouble answering, like about her likes and dislikes of anything recent. She could answer questions about Phoenix with absolute detail. It was easy to tell she missed it and she would rather be there. She was also very smart. She may be quiet but she certainly had her opinions.

All in all, I could tell this evening was going to be very interesting.

_Your parents say everything is your fault  
But they don't know you like I know you they don't know you at all  
"I'm so sick of when they say  
It's just a phase, you'll be o.k. you're fine"  
But I know it's a lie._

**_I don't own anything. :[ Well, here's the chapter that I promised. I'm proud of myself, I managed to do my homework, write a chapter, do chores, and hang out with friends all in one day. Ha, well I have to do a spanish project now and I'm freaking freezing- that's why this is a little rushed. Sorry for any typos. The Last Night by Skillet._**


	5. Chapter 5

The car ride home was… interesting, to say the least. Alice was prepping me for her family. She warned me that Rosalie wouldn't talk to me, that much I already knew though. She told me everything I needed to know about

"Well, here we are." She said breezily.

I took in the house with awe as I stepped out of the car. It was stunning, to say the least. It looked like an old style mansion, a white speck lost in a sea of green. A small stream was bubbling somewhere off in distance. It calmed my extreme nerves.

Their whole family seemed so perfect. How could I even attempt to keep up with _that_?

"Hello, dear," A beautiful women, Esme I suspected, said. She had a perfect heart shaped face that seemed to resonate the essence of kindness. Her arms opened wide and she pulled me into a maternal hug as soon as we were inside the house.

I gasped internally at the feelings rushing through me. I couldn't remember the last time someone had hugged me like that. Actually, I couldn't quite recall being hugged like that at all. My mother was always too drunk to show any affection to anyone other then the random men she would bring home every other night.

My arms slowly, hesitantly brought themselves up to wrap around her as well. She was extremely cold, just like Alice.

"My name's Esme." She smiled fondly.

My answering smile was timid. "My name is Isabella Swan."

"Very fitting-" she approved. "A beautiful name for a beautiful girl," Her cold palm pressed against my face.

I found my self blushing at her comment. It was so highly unusual for anyone to ever complement me. I didn't really know what to do with myself. This whole situation was highly unusual.

I couldn't find any reason for these two celestial beings could possibly want to know me, compliment me. I just found myself shaking my head.

"You don't think so?" She asked, thinking I was shaking my head to her statement- although that was extraordinarily incorrect as well.

"No," I said softly.

"Oh dear, hasn't your mother, your father, ever told you that you were beautiful before?" She questioned sadly. I shook my head, keeping my eyes downcast. The hand that was still on my face forced me to look at her. "You have a calm, quiet spirit that radiates from the inside out. Your face is angelic and you are even more wondrous on the inside. Don't let anyone ever, ever make you think otherwise."

She spoke with such conviction, such love. My mind just couldn't comprehend the concept of love or even any form of decency from a person. All I've known is a parental figure, a ghost of a true parent. There… but that was about as far as it went.

I found tears springing to the corners of my eyes but Esme's cold fingers brushed them away from my eyes. "You're welcome back here whenever you'd like. Please, do visit again."

I nodded.

As soon as I was realized from Esme, a pair of much, much larger arms encircled me around my waist and hoisted me into the air.

"Can't… breath!" I managed to gasp. Who ever it was was certainly cutting of the supply of oxygen that I very much needed.

"Sorry," A deep, playful voice apologized.

I was set on the ground and had to look up to gaze at the person that was just grabbing me. He stuck out his hand with a goofy smile on his face.

"Emmett," He announced as I shook his frigid hand.

I let myself smirk only slightly. "Bella."

"Nice to meet you there, Bella. I thought I'd introduce myself since I have a feeling you'll be around here much more often."

I sure hoped so. I don't know if I could handle time alone to my own thoughts after being exposed to so much intense emotions from other people. I didn't want to forget it, because odds are, as soon as I get home and suffered through another round with Charlie, I'd forget that sort of kindness was even possible.

"Bella, I'll be right back. I'm going to the kitchen to make snacks." Alice told me.

Then I was alone with the huge guy. I wasn't even exaggerating. He was positively gigantic. The way his huge muscles wrapped around his big boned structure was enough to make me want to shiver in fear. And I probably would have been if it weren't for the smile on his face. It severely contradicted his profile. He looked menacing from the neck down but a large, excited smile was plastered on his face.

"Hm, I see my sister has forced you into submission." He laughed throatily.

"What do you mean?" I asked; worry coating my usual hushed tones.

"A make-over," He shuddered, reminiscing. "She forced me into one of those once… never again." He determined, although resistance was probably futile. He sounded like he knew it but would do just about anything to get out of it.

I laughed at his face. He looks absolutely horrified at the idea of a make-over. I couldn't blame him. I wasn't overly enthusiastic but I did want to make myself look as best I could while hanging around with someone as fabulous as Alice.

"Come on, I'll show you around." He offered.

I trailed after him and reminded myself to trip.

"Wow, you're clumsy." He noted with a chuckle.

"Yeah," I answered offhandedly.

He gave me a quizzical look but said nothing of it. We continued touring the amazing, and not to mention completely huge, house with continuous conversation. He was laughing at me far too often for me to feel comfortable about myself. He probably thought I was just some fat loser. Oh no, what if this was all some big prank…

"Alright, well here's Alice's room." He waved farewell with a big smile and then shut the door.

A few seconds later Alice bounded into the room while a platter full of food.

"Here you go," She placed the try in front of me.

"Really, Alice, this is too much." I tried to refuse the food but she just shook her head at me.

"Nope, I know you don't like people doing stuff for you but please, just let me." She pouted.

"Fine," I found myself giving in again. Seriously, where is my willpower these days?

"You're too sweet, Bella." She paused for only a mere second. "My mom is crazy about you, you know that. You better come back because she's already attached to you. Oh, and Emmett seems to find you incredibly entertaining."

I felt that unfamiliar blush heat up my cheeks from the pleasure of her words. It was nice to hear things like this but it was incredibly dangerous to my shattered being. To let myself hope couldn't be very good in the long run at all if this doesn't turns into a disastrous joke or something equally as cruel. I blanched at the thought that seemed to keep on coming up now that someone was attempting a friendship with me.

"What's wrong?" She asked, worried.

"Nothing, nothing," I reassured her lightly.

She smiled although it was safe to say she didn't believe me. But she knew not to push me. I would come around, eventually.

"Let's begin." She clapped her hands together and stood up.

I groaned but stood up anyways. She chuckled a little and dragged me into her vast bathroom. She then began pulling out a whole load of feminine products.

"Alright, your eyebrows," Alice took out a pair of sharp looking tools and I shrunk back into my chair.

"Uh-uh, no way, that looks painful!" I said in a slightly louder voice then I usually use.

"Come on, Bella please." Once again, she pouted and I caved. She could tell without me even saying. She then began to pull hair out of my eyebrows at an alarming and painful rate.

"Ouch, please… Alice... stop." I begged.

"Don't worry. I'm done." She announced and stepped back to admire her work. I would have done the same but she didn't have me facing a mirror so I couldn't see a thing.

"I'm going to start with a simple face wash that you can have once we're done. You won't have to use it too often. You've got pretty nice skin."

She applied it to my face and then let me sit for a while. She talked more to me about what I thought about Forks. The only thing I really had to say was that it was getting better, which she seemed ecstatic to hear.

"Okay," She said after she dried my face and pulled out a glass container of some pale, thick stuff. "Now here's foundation. Just put a little on since it's a bit darker then your skin tone naturally. You won't want to look like your face is plastered on." She began apply it to my face. It felt funny, cold too.

Several hours and many discussions about what make-up brands, shades, and products to use later, we were finally done and I was _exhausted_.

"Okay, you can look now." She announced, spinning me around in the chair.

I gasped and what I saw. Could that honestly be me?! I raised a tentative hand to the mirror and the girl did the same with her opposite hand. Only when I should have touched the girls hand but was met with the cold mirror instead did I realize it truly was me.

"Oh," I gasped.

The girl, who was actually me, had a glowing face with a slight blush already on her cheeks. She had brown eyes that seemed to shine and were lined almost heavily with eye liner and had a coating of deep green eye shadow encasing them, matching her shirt. Everything seemed to pop. She was much more suited to hang around with Alice Cullen.

"It's perfect!" Alice chirped in her songlike voice.

I nodded. Yep, this was definitely as close to perfection as I was going to come.

"Okay, Bella, hop back up." She smiled.

"What?" I asked, enthusiasm gone.

"Come on, silly. You didn't really expect me to let you go without your hair done up, now did you?"

"I- but… I-" I stuttered. This was practically torture.

"No, buts- up you go missy!" She hoisted me into the chair effortlessly. How could someone so small be so strong.

But I didn't have time to think about it because she immediately pulled my hair down and began brushing through all the tangles I'd gathered in my hair today rather viciously.

"Ow," I whined. "Alice, that hurts."

"It's just like a band-aid. Get it over with quickly instead of slowly and painfully." She told me with a smirk on her pixy-like face.

I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest.

"There's a good girl." She cooed to me like an owner would to a dog.

I glowered at her but she just smirked and talked on about her interesting life. She had many stories to tell. She didn't run out once the whole time she did my hair and it took a long time, much longer then the make-up did.

"I feel bad," Alice announced suddenly.

I blinked. Where did that come from?

"I'm taking over the whole conversation, again." She frowned. Even making faces, she looked like an angel. (A/N: I know I took that from New Moon : )

"It's alright. I like hearing about you. You're much more interesting then I am." I smiled to show that I was pleased with the situation as is.

Her frown deepened. "I'm done." She grumbled after another moment of her unhappy silence.

I looked in the mirror. My hair, which was usually perfectly straight now had slight curls in it that descended down to my mid-back. I looked flawless, not Cullen flawless, but alright none the less. No one could compare to them, especially not me- but at least now I felt better.

"Wow," I breathed.

"I should do this everyday." She announced happily but then laughed at the look of absolute horror on my face. "Well, maybe not. But you do remember everything I told you, right?"

"Yeah," I told her more quietly then usual. I was still in awe over the reflection in the mirror. Never once in my life had I ever felt pretty until now. Alice could work wonders.

"Good, what do you want to do now?" She asked but grandfather clock somewhere in their house rung a few times, sounding throughout the entire house.

"I should probably get going now." I told her.

"Oh, alright," She said sadly. "Do you want to spend the night this Saturday?" She offered.

"Sure," I agreed slowly, thinking through any possible events that might interfere. She was about to squeal before I interrupted her. "Wait, I can't"

"Why not?" She whined like a little kid.

"My father and I got invited to a bonfire down in La Push by one of his friends." I frowned.

Her expression immediately changed when I said La Push, which was incredibly strange. I'd never been there but now I was wondering what was wrong with it. Did it have a bad reputation? It wouldn't surprise me since someone like Charlie got invited down there- although, it's not as if they knew what he was like outside of work.

"What?"

"Nothing…" Her tone made me rethink asking again. She didn't sound like she was giving information any time soon. She shook her head and the smile was back in its place, although a little forced but not much. "I'll drive you home."

"Okay…" I trailed off, confused by her chaotic emotions.

"Don't worry about it." She called over her shoulder as she skipped out to the car. I eyed her carefully before following her out.

She was my only friend and I would follow her to the ends of the Earth if it meant once person I could count on in this world.

_She never thought that she would  
Get her second chance  
Running so far from all she's ever known  
Convinced she's lost all meaning  
Where did her dreams go  
Still she knew that there was something more _

Don't be scared, there's someone there  
To say these words you need to hear 

**_I don't own anything. :[ So, this will be my last chapter for about a week because I will be driving to Canada, that's right DRIVING- from Georgia to Canada. Gr. So, I hope you enjoy. To answer some questions- Bella is fat, yes. But she won't be for much longer. It will be ExB, so hold your horses. It's coming soon maybe not the very next chapter, soon. Oh, and the song for this chapter is a little bit of a different genre then the rest (and I know they aren't the newest songs) I'm a person of diversity in just about everything in my life. Find Yourself In You by Everlife._**

**_Wow, that was a long authors note. : OH! And could someone tell me what AU stands for? Ha, I'm a tad slow and it takes me a while to pick up on these things but that one always gets me. Thanks._**


	6. Chapter 6

"Wake up," A voice growled in my ear early Saturday night and then yanked me from my warm bed. "We're leaving." Charlie announced before he stormed down the stairs. "Be down here in five minutes or you will be severely punished!" He yelled up. 

I scrambled out of bed, hastily throwing on whatever I could find and then ran down the stairs. There was a large box at the bottom of the stairs that wasn't there last night and I didn't see until I tripped over it. I hit the floor with a large crash and landed on something sharp. There was now a long gash down my arm and the blood was flowing miserably.

"Ouch," I hissed as I tried to stop the blood flow.

"What the hell was that?" Charlie boomed. His loud footsteps echoed through the hall as he barged in. "You better not have broken something."

He took one look at the damaged- a tackle box for fishing was completely scattered across the floor. "You stupid piece of crap, look at you! You good for nothing child! Pick it up before you make us late."

He stormed out, leaving me and my bloody arm to pick up the mess. I examined the cut and tried to find the cause. Ah ha, there it was. There was a large knife on the floor amongst other stuff; it's probably used for cutting the line.

I quickly ran it under some cold water and then bandaged it as best I could with my emergency kit and then picked up all the mess in record time.

Once I was inside the car, a loud whip like noise reached my ears. It took me a second to register that I had just been slapped.

"You took forever!" He complained with another hard slap on my cheek.

I nodded miserably it was better not to argue- more specifically, it was better not to talk. Silence was better in my life. There was no one to talk to, no one to listen, and absolutely no one to cry to. In this house, speech meant punishment. Maybe that was why I never spoke, or laughed, or smiled.

No one knew though, really. No one knew how much I was truly suffering in this life. And it was better that way. Why bring any one down with me. I didn't need pity. I'd lived without love through the tenderest ages of my life- I don't need it now.

But I wanted it. Oh, how I wanted it. To be loved was what every girl wanted, any sort of love would do. A friend, a mother…goodness knows I couldn't get a boy. But, honestly even just a bit of kindness would satisfy me. And I had finally gotten my wish in the form of a spiky haired girl named Alice. My angel.

Through my musings I had hardly realized we were there. I still didn't understand the point of starting a bonfire so early in the day but I went along with it anyways. I didn't have much choice.

"You keep your mouth shut. Only talk when you're spoken to directly. Behave." Charlie warned me sternly, the hatred showing clearly in his eyes.

I nodded. A bright smiled found its way onto Charlie's old face. It made him look demented, psychotic even. It was sinister and forced. I shuddered.

We walked out of the car and to the beach. It wasn't raining and it was pretty sunny for Forks. Maybe it was a sign, I thought hopefully.

"Charlie," A man in a wheelchair greeted Charlie with a warm smile. I wondered idly how he had even gotten on this rocky beach with a wheel chair anyways, but the thought was gone as soon as it came.

I saw him return it, looking much less evil. "Billy, it's been too long my friend." Charlie and the man, Billy I suppose, clasped hands.

"Hey, Bella." A kid, probably two years younger then me greeted with his hand outstretched.

"Hello," I trailed off, hoping for a name.

"Jacob," The kid beamed and I smiled lightly as well. He seemed even more infectious then Alice did. "Ow, that's a pretty nasty scratch you got there. What happened?"

"I tripped down the stairs." I blushed slightly. To have actually tripped over something was a new experience for me.

He laughed. "Nice, do you want to go down to the bonfire while our parents catch up?" He offered.

I took one look at Charlie and found him eyeing me evilly. I nodded quickly. "Yeah, let's go." I took off quickly but Jacob kept up easily with me.

When we got down to the bonfire I recognized some of the faces of classmates at my school that completely ignored me on my first day of school.

"Hey Bella," A blonde girl, Lauren I think, called with a hint of malice in her tone. "Why aren't you here with your best friend, Alice? Or did she already ditch you." She snickered and a couple of people around her did the same.

I opened my mouth to defend myself- something I usually never did- but some guy, about twenty or so, interrupted me.

"The Cullens don't come here." He informed the group in a tone that left you little want to make him elaborate. But I was desperate to know what he meant. Obviously, it wasn't their choice and the Cullens, or at least Alice, were sour about it. Something was up.

"What does he mean?" I whispered to Jacob, who seemed to know what was going on.

"It's just some stupid family legend." He muttered, seeming embarrassed.

"Please, tell me." I begged.

He sighed. "Let's go for a walk." He stood up and I followed him as he led us further and further down to the beach.

"Okay," He announced and then sat down on a piece of drift wood. I sat on a piece facing him. "So, my family has been around for a long, long time. And of course, when you have a long history that means they have their own beliefs about… certain things. How they came to life, what caused things to happen. My family has their own unique version of things." He seemed to think then of what to say or how to phrase it.

He sighed. "We have one enemy- the cold ones, AKA the Cullens. Our family is supposed to be descendants or werewolves, sent to keep the area safe. But these ones are supposed to be good, safe… I guess. But either way my family wanted them off our lands so that's the agreement. They stay out of our land and don't do anything to break the treaty and there will be no war." He scoffed like he didn't believe a word of it.

"Wait, cold ones- what is a cold one? What are the confines of the treaty?" I asked, confusion written all over my face.

"The Cullens are vampires and the treaty is that they cannot bite or kill a human or come onto La Push territory. "Stupid, right?" He clearly didn't put nearly as much stalk in these myths as I did.

I believed every word he said. There was always something different about the Cullen family. That much was apart. Their grace, good looks, and endless patience and kindness- it was something completely unearthly.

I was about to ask more questions when a furious voice made all my muscles stiff and tense, as if waiting for that impact that was sure to come.

"Bella!" Charlie roared. My eyes widened in fear. "We're leaving." He didn't wait for my to respond or even say goodbye before he grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled me from the stump I was sitting on. I practically fell over but that didn't stop him from pulling me.

"Please, stop. Charlie, I didn't tell him anything." I begged, as tears flowed freely down my cheeks.

He just slapped me. "Shut up, you stupid girl." He continued to drag me to the car, out of sight from my classmates around the fire.

"How dare you defy me, you stupid slut! Hanging around with guys! Who knows what people say about you- walking down to the beach alone with guys- or what you could have been saying. I swear to God if you said anything to Jacob I will personally wring your neck!" Charlie yelled at me as we sped down the road in the police cruiser.

He yanked me out of cab as soon as we pulled into our driveway. I didn't have time to put my feet on the ground and he only had a hold of my arm and dragged me with that. My clothes got muddy and soaked as he pulled me into the house. He then kicked me in the ribs, hard- and kept kicking. Then he grabbed my dirty legs and pulled me up the stairs. Somewhere between the second or third crack of my head on the stairs, I lost consciousness.

When I woke up again I was on the floor of my bedroom. Except, it didn't look anything like my bedroom. For one thing, there was no bed- only a pile of rubble that had the same wooden color of my bed. And the walls, they were different too. They had odd red-brown stains in random clutters on them.

After a moment, a horrific realization flashed through me. That red-brown color was my blood. I tried to move but everything hurt. I was content to just lay there.

I laid and laid all through the day and drifted in and out of sleep, or consciousness. I couldn't tell which one. No one came during the day. I assumed Charlie was off with Billy, fishing or something like that. I wonder what lie he used to explain his sudden absence or forcibly dragging his daughter off.

Sunday night, Charlie finally made his appearance. He walked up to my room, took a look around, and when his evil eyes finally settled upon me, he laughed. It was a disgustingly happy sound, like he was proud of his work. He nudged my head a little with his foot and I let out a slow hiss of pain. This only made him laugh harder and increase the pressure. I bit my lip and squeezed my eyes shut against the pain. He was almost out the door before he stopped short. He turned around and spat on me. It landed right on my cheek but I didn't have the strength to wipe it off.

I did, however, cry. Loud sobs tore through my torso. It hurt, horribly. I probably had a couple broken, or bruised, ribs. But no matter how hard it hurt, I couldn't stop. I was soon gasping for breath.

I guess I passed out then.

---

A low moan sounded from my throat. I pulled myself off the floor slowly. I wobbled a little but finally stood straight. I winced as I took in my appearance with the cracked and bloodstained mirror- I guess he threw me into that too. My hair was a bloody mess. Maybe my head was what hit the mirror or the stairs. It was hard to tell what caused what. I lifted up my shirt to find every inch of my skin bruised. I had several long gashes along my cheeks and down my arms and legs, probably a result of the glass. My face was horribly swollen and red.

I walked to the bathroom, my muscles resisting every small movement. The hot water helped though and I took an extremely long shower, scrubbing all the bloodstains off with what little strength left in me I had. I got dressed in the most comfortable clothes I had and left the house.

I smiled at the sight of the Volvo in my driveway. Alice was truly my angel. My vampire angel, I realized with a sudden jolt. I waited for fear, but it didn't come. So I joined Alice in Volvo, feeling the same way I did every time I saw her- relief.

"Howdy, Bella." She yelled.

I laughed a little, but was distracted. For the whole ride, really, I was distracted. That was until she finally got my attention completely with five, dangerous words.

"Bella, we need to talk." She said in a somber voice.

APOV:

"She's lovely." Esme gushed.

I nodded enthusiastically. I agreed completely. I liked Bella so much more then Jocelyn. She'd be a much better sister.

"Oh, Esme," I begged. "Please tell me you won't make me stop being her friend. She needs me."

Her eyes saddened. "I'd never do that. She most definitely needs some love." Just when I was about to jump around and hug her, she held up a hand for me to stop. "But you'll have to tell her."

I stopped. "I can't do that."

" Alice, honey it's not fair to keep putting her in danger while bringing her to our house unless she wants to."

"I know," I grumbled like a little kid.

"There's my girl." Esme gave me a hug. But I chewed my lip nervously. How would I tell Bella? I didn't even have the future to see how she would take it. I was still only getting that horrifying vision of Bella dead.

"I like her." Emmett announced as we all made our way to the car. Rosalie glared at him. "Sorry, Rose, but she's a crack up. For a quiet girl, she most certainly has a little spunk underneath her. Besides, she is extremely lonely."

"Em does have a point." Jasper said with a wince as he was probably remembering feeling her pain. "I'm surprised she can sit there and not cry. That's not it though. She's always in physical pain, too. She's definitely got it rough."

"That's probably because she trips so much!" Emmett laughed. I let out a small giggle. It wasn't much though. Her tripping was far too precise to really be natural.

"Well, I agree with Rose. She doesn't need to be hanging around here. And you," Jocelyn pointed a perfectly manicured finger at me. "Don't need to keep putting our secret in danger."

Rosalie and I rolled our eyes at her. She was far too much of a suck-up to Rosalie. Just because Rosalie was nice to her at first and said that they could pretend to be twins didn't mean Jocelyn and her were going to be best friends for life. But I don't think Jocelyn realized that.

"Oh, yeah," I suddenly beamed as I thought about how much this was going to annoy Rose. "I'm telling her today or sometime this week." But I just took off to the car to pick up my new best friend rather then listening to Rose's tantrum.

I pulled into Bella's driveway, thoroughly pleased with the newest case of turmoil I'd thrown my family into. I thought it was rather laughable. But, that was just me.

I looked up to see Bella moving slower then usual with a characteristic grimace on her face. It saddened me that she was always so unhappy. But her face lit up and a grin spread across her face as she saw me. I was glad that I could make her happy like that.

"Howdy, Bella," I called happily. My morning so far had been just peachy.

She giggled a little. Huh, I guess not that many people really use howdy any more, do they? Either way, I liked hearing her laugh.

"Good morning, Alice," She greeted in her usual hushed voice as she got in the car. Her gate was off today. She was moving much to slow and moving as little as possible.

"What's wrong?" I frowned.

She paused. "Oh," And thought with a slight flinch as she remembered something. "I had a really nasty fall last night."

"Oh," Her fall, by the looks of it, was a lot worse then nasty. "You need to be more careful, Bella. I don't want you getting hurt." I tensed slightly as I thought about the graphic vision of Bella's future.

We road the rest of the way in silence, until finally I got tired of Bella's quiet, thinking mood.

"Bella, we need to talk." I decided I would tell her.

She just looked up at me, suddenly terrified and sad.

"Don't worry, Bella. I'm not going anywhere." I reassured her. Relief washed over her face and her tense posture released and she looked up at me. "Though you might." I muttered lowly, so she couldn't hear me.

"What's up?" She asked, probably wondering why I looked so angry or upset. I wasn't quite sure how my face looked. Either way, this wasn't a conversation I really wanted to have with her.

"Do you mind missing first, or possibly the whole day? This conversation might take a while." I warned her.

"Alright..." She agreed hesitantly.

"Good, I'll call Esme and have her excuse us. Is that alright?" She nodded and I quickly whipped out my phone and informed Esme, who was pleasantly surprised.

I drove Bella to a quiet place I liked to go when I thought. It was a small coffee and book shop that was extremely old but tasteful. It smelt strongly of coffee beans and there seemed to be a fog that was ever-present in the room. It had several rows of books in the front along with the coffee stand and several leather arm chairs. In the back there was a round table made of a glossy mahogany wood and too large armchairs reinforced with the same wood and had a plush green upholstery. That was my favorite place to sit, very private- not that there were many people in here to overhear anyways, especially at this time of day.

I ordered her a coffee while she grabbed a book that she said she had been wanting to read and took her seat in the back.

"Alright, Bella," I said with a heavy sigh. This was going to be a hard one to explain.

She waited patiently while I gathered my thoughts. She had a pleasant, knowing smile on her face and whatever worries she had before seemed to be completely out the window. "It's alright, Alice. You can tell me anything."

I breathed slowly out of my nose before finally speaking. "Before we can really be friends, Bella, there's something you should know about me. About my family," I amended. And then stopped talking. By the way, Bella, my family and I, yeah, we're vampires. I thought sarcastically. How does one tell your best friend you're not exactly human?

"It's okay, Alice. I know." She smiled.

"What?!" I started to scream but then hushed it down to a unbelieving whisper.

She nodded. "I know." She repeated, touching my hand, which I had slammed down onto the table with my frustration.

"What?" I repeated again, stupidly. "How? Are you sure you even know what you're talking about?" I asked with a slightly hysterical edge to my voice.

"Yes." Her voice seemed much more befitting in a coffee shop then it did in normal conversations. She seemed much more comfortable here.

"Well, what then?" I asked, somewhat smugly, and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Uh... well, are you referring to the fact that you're not human, a vampire?" She asked more hesitantly now. She avoided my eye contact, the bravado she had just had wearing off.

My eyes must have gotten too sizes larger and I felt my jaw drop. I gaped at her in stunned silence.

"Who? When? What?!" I asked, my mind to shocked to form a proper question. "Explain." I demanded desperately.

"Well, Saturday," She began but I instantly comprehend and felt slightly stupid for not putting it together early. I let her finish though, wanting to know the exact details. "I went down to the bonfire, as you know, and a family friend was there, Jacob Black. Someone, I think his name was Sam Uley, said something about you guys- that you didn't come to the reservation, only it sounded like he meant something else. Me and Jacob went for a walk and I got him to tell me what Sam meant." She stopped there. It felt sort of like her story about Saturday went on for a bit longer then that, although it seemed the story about the beach was over.

"And you don't care?" I asked incredulously. I couldn't quite grasp that. Bella was truly an odd person.

"No," Her eyes were intense and her face abruptly crumbled. "You're all I have." She whispered probably barely audible to her own ears.

"What do you mean?" I asked. Bella had her father, didn't she?

"You heard that?" Her eyes were wide with shock. "I could hardly hear that."

I smiled sheepishly. "Vampire perk."

"Wow," She breathed. "You have to show me!"

I laughed, glad the intense atmosphere was gone. "Of course, let's go back to my house and you can hear all about it."

She smiled brightly. "Let me just go pay for this."

I used my speed and grabbed the book before she could blink. "I got it." I walked over to the stand and let Bella sitting there in stunned silence.

"This is going to be great. No secrets." I beamed, completely enthused by that idea.

Bella looked dejected and barely mumbled. "Yeah, no secrets." I gave her a strange look but she wouldn't meet my gaze. How I wish Edward was here to just tell me what was going on in her head!

Whos to blame for the life that tragedies claim no matter what you say it won't  
take away the pain, that I feel inside I'm tired of all the lies don't nobody know  
why it's the blind leadin the blind.  
Guess that's the way that the story goes, will it ever make sense somebody's  
gotta  
know, there's gotta be more to life than this, there's got to be more to everything  
I thought exists

**_I don't own anything. BTW- sorry for any gramatical, spelling, or just plain errors there might be. I did this all on something that doesn't have spelling check. When I get home the whole thing will be edited properly, so until then you'll just have to deal with the mistakes. I hope you all love me for this chapter because I'm supposed to be on break. But I'm not exactly having the time of my life here either. I have no cell phone service because of out of country charges and no friends. I only have my nine year old cousin and little brother to keep me company. :[ And I have a terrible head ache. And if any of you have read my other story- there will be another chapter of that sometime while I'm here. Youth of the Nation by P.O.D._**


	7. Chapter 7

**_Okayyyy, so here's the deal. Alice didn't see the marks on Bella's face because she's really good at hiding what happens and plus, Alice has no idea what's going on because of her lack of ability to see Bella's future correctly, except for her impending demise. And yes, Bella is a tad over weight. She's not exactly fat, more of just has a couple of extra pounds. Or a little more. Although, because she doesn't eat anything at home, she's losing weight. Pretty fast too. The only food she gets is what Alice gives her (although Alice has no idea.) The never suspect anything about Bella's home life because of the baggy clothes that hid the bruises and decreasing body weight. And Edward's coming very soon. Next chapter perhaps: I hope that clears everything up. _**

BPOV:

Alice was nearly bouncing off her seats as we drove home. I, on the other hand, was nearly miserable. How could I be such a horrible friend to Alice? She was ready to bear everything, her deepest secret to me, and I couldn't tell her a thing. It's not as if our secrets were any where near the same. Hers didn't change anything about how I felt about her. But my secret was much more horrific that having a vampire for a best friend. That was actually enjoyable. But the idea of having Alice know my secret, no matter how much less stressful that would be, was abhorred. I could just about imagine the looks of pity I'd get. I don't want pity; I want a best friend.

"Esme," Alice called excitedly but then her voice slowed and got deeper and drawn out.

Alice's siblings- all of them except Edward- were standing on the porch. Their faces ranged from happiness- Esme, Emmett, and her father, who I haven't met yet- to disapproval- Jasper- to downright fury- Rosalie and Jocelyn.

I blanched. This wasn't going to be fun.

" Alice, how dare you?! You tell some human what we are without even talking to us?!" Rosalie screeched and probably would have continued her rant if it wasn't for a silencing look for Carlisle.

"Bella, Alice," Carlisle addressed us in a formal tone. "Do come inside. It seems we have a lot to explain. I take it Alice didn't exactly explain all the finer points of everything. I'd assume you have a lot of questions."

I nodded. It was a tad strange that he 'assumed' everything correctly but I let it go.

He walked inside and everyone followed. The crowd was pacified now. Rosalie still looked furious but every one else had a clear face. I bit my lip in anticipation. It was make or break now, I suppose.

"What exactly did Alice tell you?" Carlisle asked once everyone was seated.

Carlisle sat in a large arm chair and Esme stood behind him with a small hand placed on his shoulder. Rosalie sat with her arms folded across her chest and Emmett had his arm draped lazily across the back of the loveseat with a complacent smile on his face. Jasper was sitting at the very edge of the couch we were sitting on and Alice sat beside me, holding my hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Uh, she didn't really tell me anything..." I offered in an almost mute voice. I was sure they heard it though.

"What do you mean?" He asked, his calm voice had a hint of confusion now and his eyebrows furrowed.

"Well, on Saturday I went down to La Push and a kid named Jacob was telling me family legends, and yours I guess. And so Alice didn't have to tell me anything. We were going back to your house so she could show me vampire things." My sentences came out slow and not with any more confidence then when I had spoken before.

Being in a room, surrounding by beautiful vampires was surprisingly unreasurring.

"Oh," Carlisle stated simply.

An silence fell over the room until it was broken by Alice. "See," She announced happily. "I'm in the clear because I didn't tell her anything!"

Rosalie huffed. "You were going to. It still counts."

"Yeah," Jocelyn put in, who I hadn't noticed standing in the corner until then. I felt almost mean for thinking it, but she really didn't seem to fit in properly with this family.

"Shut up, Jocelyn." Rosalie snapped harshly without even looking at her. Jocelyn frowned but didn't say any more.

"I don't have to check every little thing I do with you, Rosalie. Believe it or not, this family does not revolve around you. Besides, I already had Esme's permission and she wouldn't tell me to do anything like that without verifying it with Carlisle first." Alice pointed out smugly.

Rosalie let out a strange frustrated noise that sounded somewhat like a quiet scream and then stomped up the stairs. I expected Emmett to follow her but he just chuckled. This family was certainly interesting.

"So, Bella, what do you want to know?" Alice asked, turning to me with excitement written all over her pixie like face. Her eyes seemed to dance with it.

"Uh, I don't know. Everything?" I asked unsurely.

Emmett chuckled but Alice immediately went off, listing everything she could think of.

"We drink animal blood. We can't go out in the sun or our skin sparkles! That's why we live in rainy places like Forks. We have super strength and speed. We live forever. The only we to make a vampire is to bite someone and not drink them. It's extremely hard. The only way to kill a vampire is to rip them to shreds and then burn the pieces. And that's just the basics! I can see the future. Edward can read minds. Jasper can control and read emotions. Carlisle is practically immune to human blood. Esme is really caring. Emmett's just huge. Rosalie is pigheaded and beautiful. And that's about it." Alice finished all in one breath.

My mind was racing, trying to absorb everything she just listed and trying to keep up. It was a lot to digest. But, through all that, I didn't miss that she didn't say anything about Jocelyn. I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her. Out of this whole family no one seemed to talk to her and the only person that did was gone.

"Got it?" Alice asked, still perky.

"Uh?"

Emmett roared with laughter. " Alice, take it down a notch for the poor human girl, would you?"

"Yes, Alice, please, this is a lot to take in and you're not making it any easier for her." Esme scolded.

She frowned for a minute and seemed to be deliberating on something. Suddenly her face lit up. "You want to see it all?" Alice asked suddenly.

Emmett stood up. "I'll do it!" He volunteered. His whole face was animated and it made him look much like a five year old with a body on steroids.

"No, I want to!" Alice whined.

"Aw, come on! You got to explain everything. I get to show it!" He complained.

"No, she's my friend."

"She's my friend too!"

"Nu-" Alice went to counter back but Esme stepped in then.

"You're making us look bad, children. Please, behave like civilized beings. And you can both do it."

"Alright!" They both agreed happily and ran out the door to the front yard. I got up slowly, still a little dazed by the rush of information.

"Bella, I didn't get to introduce myself before. But I'm Carlisle, Alice and Emmett's adopted father." He said with a wink that I didn't quite understand. I smiled anyways and shook his hand.

"Bella," I said quietly.

"I'm sure I'll be seeing you around a lot, Bella." He said before he literally disappeared. I blinked twice but it was a moment before I remembered the super speed thing. It was startling and I doubted I'd ever get used to it.

"Are you coming or not?" Emmett's voice boomed happily from outside.

I ran out and stopped. There, standing in the sunshine was Alice and Emmett. And they were sparkling just as they had said. It looked like thousands of tiny diamonds were embedded into their skin. They looked celestial.

"Holy crap," I breathed.

"Come on, Bella." Emmett grabbed me around the waist an hoisted me above his head. There's the super strength.

I bit my lip and held back a scream. God, that hurt. I was pretty sure that my ribs were broken and being held by them by practically a rock wasn't exactly comforting.

"Emmett, put her down." Jasper commanded after appearing out of no where. "You're hurting her."

Emmett frowned but put me down. "Sorry ," He apologized.

"S' alright." I fixed my shirt and smiled at him.

The rest of the afternoon was spent learning and seeing everything that went into a vampire. I learned how their whole family came together and they all took their time to explain to me what happened to them, except for three people. Jocelyn because she spent the whole time in her room just like the last time. Rosalie because she hated me with a passion. And Edward who wasn't here.

It wasn't until later that night that two things sunk in. First, that Alice could see my future. She could see what my father did to me every night. And that Edward could read my mind. That wasn't an immediate problem because he wasn't here and Alice told me that he wasn't coming any time soon. But when he could, it would be extremely difficult. Needless to say, I couldn't get to sleep that night.

---

Days turned into weeks, weeks into months. And I was content. Alice couldn't see my future, although she wouldn't tell me what she could see. Edward still wasn't back yet. I had also come to the conclusion the reason why he wasn't here was because of me. No one denied it but no one confirmed it either.

Charlie's beatings had become bearable with the knowledge that I had a second family to go home to until six, when I left to make Charlie's dinner. It was like a couple of hours in heaven before being sent to hell again.

I was now an extra small in clothes. I couldn't even fit into any of my other ones now. Alice took me shopping many times. I now had a closet completely full of clothes that were a size small, so they were still baggy on me. It was enough to please Alice and me.

I never spent the night at Alice's house and she had only ever been to my house a couple of times. She was never in my room either. It would be hard to explain to her why I didn't have a bed. They never questioned me about anything but I could see that they knew something was up with me.

I still felt unbelievably fragile. My body was beaten, bruised and underweight. I wasn't quiet sure how long my body could handle the abuse. Even my soul was fragile. I had to put on a brave face every day and take my punishment for doing nothing. No one knew what went on behind the facade.

Something was still lacking in my life and I didn't know what.

"Hey, Bella." Alice greeted me. "Do you want to spend the night at our house this weekend?" She asked like every other Friday with little hope. I usually always said no.

"Sure," I answered while not looking up from my homework. But I could almost imagine the smile that was lighting up her face, stretching from side to side.

"Really?!" She asked, unbelievably excited.

"Yeah, Charlie's out of town and I don't have to cook for him or anything so..." Which was my usual excuse. And true as well. They just didn't realize how much relied on me having dinner ready for my father.

"Amazing!" She exclaimed but then her face fell. "Wait...we're going hunting this weekend. Well on Saturday."

"It's alright." I didn't brother hiding my crestfallen expression. I really wanted this.

"I guess you can spend the night on Friday and then just hang out at the house Saturday and then we can continue that night when I get home." She offered.

"Alright!" I was excited again.

Little did I know that I had signed up for torture. I spent the whole night on Friday being dolled up. We watched movies for most of the night after that and I fell asleep somewhere in-between the second and third movie. She even had the nerve to dress me up on Saturday too.

Soon after they left I decided I was hungry. I went into the kitchen while dancing around to my Ipod and grabbed myself a yogurt. I pulled myself onto the countertop and started eating.

Suddenly an incredibly angry voice interrupted me. "Who the hell are you?"

Tell me where our time went  
And if it was time well spent  
Just don't let me fall asleep  
Feeling empty again

Cause I fear I might brake  
And I fear I can't take it  
Tonight I'll lie awake  
Feeling empty

**_I don't own anything. So here's another chapter for you. This chapter is sort of a filler so it's really small. I'm much better a writting long chapters when it's my own story (not a fanfic) Who do you think that is? Ha, Merry Christmas and to those of you that aren't Christian. Happy Holidays. Oh, and thanks for the song topaz-and-onyx. I have to wait until I get home to listen to it because this computer doesn't have speakers, but I will listen to it. If anybody else has songs they think fit that you want me to listen to I'd love to hear them. Pressure by Paramore._**


	8. Chapter 8

**_Omg, thanks so much for your reviews. : you guys make me happy. Anyways. Yes, Edward was gone for a lot longer then in the original but that's only because if he came earlier Bella would still be overweight and she wouldn't have been as tight as she is now with the family and yes, Rosalie is a bit meaner but hey, she comes around you'll see in this chapter. And no one asks about Bella's pain because she claims to be clumsy and is a very good actress. She's used to pain by now and yeahhh. Oh, and Edward isnt here to read Bella's thoughts but he can't anyways. That's still the same. :_**

EPOV:

I walked into the house and took a deep breath, home. But something was off. The smell. Oh, God, I knew that smell. It was her. The same girl that drove me from my home. Was this some sort of joke? A test?

"Hello?" I called but no one responded. The house was completely silent of any thoughts or words. Maybe no one was home?

I decided to follow my nose. It lead me straight to the kitchen. A girl was sitting on the counter with her back facing away from me. She had the same scent and hair as the girl from before but this girl was far too skinny and her hair was better. She was bouncing slightly while swinging her legs and eating yogurt.

"Who the hell are you?" I growled.

"Oh!" She jumped and fell off the counter. I instantly sped over and caught her. She felt much more fragile in my arms then she looked. Her body was frail and almost to the point of emancipation.

"Well?" I repeated.

"Bella, Bella Swan," She was slightly breathless as she looked into my eyes with her deep, chocolate ones.

So it was the same girl from before. Her scent was overpowering and I quickly set her warm body down. "Why are you here?" I closed my darkening eyes. There was no reason to frighten this girl.

"Alice invited me." She stated in her quiet voice. So that hadn't changed either.

"Then why isn't she here? Where is my family?"

Well that was weird. I tried reading her mind but there was nothing there. Was she brain-dead or something? Honestly, there was nothing going on. There was just silence coming from where her thoughts should be, not even a whisper.

"They went hunting. Alice told me to just wait here." She was avoiding my gaze and infuriating me at the same time.

I felt my jaw drop and eyes go wide. "What?" I asked in a flat voice.

"Yeah, I know everything." She looked me in the eyes then. Even when she was being bold, she was quiet. "You're a vampire." She added just to prove it.

"How?" My voice sounded as mystified as I felt.

"Jacob told me." I was confused. Who was Jacob. Holy God, this girl was frustrating. I could just wring her little neck.

"Eddie bear, you're home!" Jocelyn cried suddenly as she threw her arms around my neck and planted several kisses on my neck.

"Oh no, Edward, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize that my visions that had Bella and other people in them are getting messed up too." Alice appologized. "I completely didn't see that you were getting home today!"

I looked away from Jocelyn and saw that my whole family was now in the room. I guess they were back from hunting a little early. I just scowled at my sister's face.

"Jeez, Edward, don't be such a prat. Just because you had to come home to some random girl doesn't mean you have to be so rude to all of us." Rosalie spoke. "Besides, the little twerp kind of grows on you." She put her arm around the girl and shook her up a little bit and Bella grinned.

I just growled a little and stormed off the stairs. It wasn't enough I could still hear them talking about me.

"Don't worry about him, Bella. He's got anger issues. He'll get over himself soon enough." Emmett laughed.

"Yeah, he just wants to take a snap out of you. That's all." Jasper put in.

I frowned at my family, though they couldn't see it. I'm glad they're all having a good laugh at my expense.

"Hey, Eddie." Jocelyn said timidly as she opened up my door.

"Don't call me that." I growled at her.

"Why are you so angry all the time. I haven't done anything." She sounded affended.

"Sorry," I appologized with little enthusiam. I was in no mood to be pestered by her right now. She could get seriously annoying. "Why aren't you down there with her."

"Oh," Jocelyn thought. "I don't really like her. She doesn't belong."

I went to agree, but I couldn't quiet do that. It already felt like Bella fit in more with my family then Jocelyn did after a decade or two. My family didn't like Jocelyn but they seemed to love Bella.

BPOV:

After that incounter I was positive he hated me. Although, there was that one split second, in his eyes, while he was holding me that he looked at me different. There wasn't hatred in his eyes, but something else I couldn't quite name. Either way, I knew that it was my fault he had left before.

"Hey, Bella do you want to go upstairs?" Rosalie offered.

She had become a lot nicer to me after a couple of weeks. I guess she finally realized that I wasn't going to do anything stupid, like tell their secret. All I had to do to gain her approval was suffer through endless make-overs and shopping sprees. It was worth it though.

"Sure," I hoped up and Alice followed after us. "How was your trip?" I asked

Alice sighed. "It got cut short when I saw Edward in a vision on our doorstep."

I laughed a little. I was still a little dizzy from that sudden encounter and falling off of the counter. It had nothing to do with how intensely beautiful his eyes were...

I hadn't realized that Alice and Rosalie were watching me until I looked up to meet their quizical gaze.

"You know what?" Rosalie announced while we were all sititng on her bed. Alice and her were both looking at magazines and I was reading the copy of Hawthorne Heights I kept at their house. "I want to do something."

"Like what?" I asked, not seeing where she was going with this.

"Well, on your one weekend of freedom we shouldn't be sitting around doing nothing. Let's get everyone and go out and do something." She beamed.

"Oh, I know!" Alice squealed. "There's this amazing ballroom that they just opened up down in Seattle. It'd be perfect!"

"Oh, no," I moaned. This meant dress-up _and_ dancing. How horrendous!

They both looked at me with sinister smiles on their faces. I was dragged into the bathroom where they expertly pinned and curled my hair so that it looked short and was clinging to head. The lined my eyes with dark blue and then put on black mascara but then applied bright red lipstick. Then, they forced me into a shimmering blue gown. It clung to whatever curves my body had left nicely and then they gave me a sheer blue shawl to wear over that and a pair of long blue silk gloves that reached to my elbow.

Originally they were going to give it me but I complained until they complied. You could see my bruises easily. Like always they asked about it and I answered them with 'I'm clumsy.' And like always they didn't believe me.

Rosalie looked stunning in her outfit, as usual. Her dress was similar to mine except it had a deep v-neck and a slit up the side of her right leg and it didn't shimmer. Her hair was swept over to the side and it's usual waves were slightly move defined.

Alice also had the same basic look. Her dress was yellow and had the same v-neck as Rosalie's only a little less was showing and it had an open back that had a gold chain that met the straps of her dress at her colar bone. There was little you could do to her hair but she managed to put small canary colored jems in her hair that matched the ocasional sparkles that were sewn onto her dress.

They looked completely ecstatic. Timeless. I was completely jealous of them as always. No matter how much magic they worked, I could never compare to them.

We joined Esme on the stairs and she was wearing another dress that was almost the exact repeat of mine except in a green color. We looked like the ladies you saw on T.V. from some other era of time- where ladies were classy and elegant.

Jocelyn, however, missed that memo. She was sitting on the couch in the other room, looking ticked. Her dress was far less elegant or shimery then ours. It was actually pretty revealing.

Like usual everyone was paired off and Jocelyn was alone. Then something occured to me. Where was Edward? I scanned the room to find him in the corner, staring back at me.

EPOV:

I couldn't believe the site before me. Bella looked like an angel. I couldn't take my eyes off her. I almost found myself wishing I could go over to her and hold her like the others.

"Huh," Someone coughed and I looked over to see Jocelyn. My jaw actually dropped then. She looked _hot_. The dress left little to the imagination, but that was the strange thing. My imagination wasn't going off like it should be.

I found my mind wrapped up in other thoughts, thoughts of the beauty in the blue dress.

And I hated myself for it.

That girl was nothing but trouble, right from the start. She made me leave. She makes me think about her. She smells too good. She was too quiet. I couldn't read her thoughts. She makes me forget about Jocelyn- the girl I should be with.

But somehow, no matter how hard I tried I couldn't hate her. I could surely hate myself for not hating her. But no, I could never truly hate her. But I could hate what she does.

I hated the way she had my whole family wrapped around her finger. The way that the whole night, no matter how much I danced with Jocelyn, I couldn't forget about the fact that she was enjoying my family's company and dancing with them while I was not. I hated her quiet, enchanting laughter. I hated the way her beautiful dress made her sparkle. I hated the way her smile lit up her whole face, making her look even more angelic.

But what I really hated, was how I couldn't hate _her_.

Over and over, over and over  
I fall for you  
Over and over, over and over  
I try not to  
Over and over, over and over  
You make me fall for you  
Over and over, over and over  
You don't even try

_**I don't own anything. Ha, yeah I kind of stole that idea from the movie Ten Things I Hate About You, a little. Well here's another chapter for you in one day. I have too much free time here. And basically, there's Edward falling in love with her but trying really hard to hate her. Much more good stuff to come. Looooove me. : Over and Over by Three Days Grace.**_


	9. Chapter 9

**_Wow, guys, thanks so much for the reviews. They keep me writting. _**

BPOV:

"Hello, Edward." I greeted him calmly after about a couple weeks after his arrival. We hadn't exactly been close to speaking terms, actually it more close to hostility. He'd glare at me constantly and when ever someone would say my name he had a bad habit of snorting loudly or rolling his eyes. I didn't get it. What had I ever done to him?

"What do _you_ want?" He sneered.

"I was just saying hello." I mumbled quietly. Even when I was being perfectly pleasant, he was rude. I ducked my head and quickly exited out of the kitchen and sat on the couch with a huff.

"Wow, Bella, your emotions are running wild this morning. Is it that time of the month?" Jasper asked with a chuckle.

I swatted him on the head, lightly since it would hurt me more then it would hurt him. It wouldn't hurt him at all. "You very well know when that time of the month is!" I yelled in a whisper. The whole family could smell it when I was, and the whole family could probably hear this conversation if they tried.

"I know." He laughed. I scowled at him but he just laughed harder. "He likes you too." He whispered so low in my ear I hardly heard it.

"What?" My eyebrows furrowed. Surely, he couldn't be serious.

"Empath, remember? I can feel what he feels and he likes you, too." Jasper pressed a cold finger to my nose.

"Well, you're wrong. He hates me. Do you not see the way he treats me?" I asked, anger lacing my tone. He was being completely ridiculous.

"He _pretends_ to hate you, or at least he tries. He's confused and doesn't know what he's feeling. The only way he's ever liked someone is physically and he doesn't understand what's going on with his feelings, why he isn't that attracted to _her_ anymore."

"You're off your rocker, you know that?" I told him while rolling my eyes. I pulled myself of the couch and left the crazy vampire to watch T.V. by himself.

"Alice, your husband is delusional." I informed her as I sat on her bed.

She just laughed. "No, he's not. Trust me, if you knew Eddie before this, you would understand the difference. He's definitely smitten with you."

I glared at her. This whole family was nuts. There was no way a God like Edward could like a plain, mortal girl like me, especially when he hates my guts.

"Come, on. Let's go watch a movie with the family." Alice said as she grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me down the stairs.

The whole time during the movie Edward glared at me from where he was sitting on his couch, Jocelyn in his lap- as to be expected. I glared right back at him this time. Jasper, Alice and Emmett thought the whole thing was hilarious and would randomly look at us and chuckle. Rosalie thought it was immature and would smack Emmett on the head. Esme and Carlisle played it safe and pretended to be oblivious.

After the movie was over I still sat there once everyone else had left. So did Edward. The glaring contest lasted a little longer until finally I stood up and threw my hands into the air.

"What's wrong with you? What have I ever done to you?" I yelled, being probably the loudest and most outgoing I'd ever been in my life.

He looked taken back for a second before catching himself. His eyes hardened and burned into mine with the intensity of his glare. His voice was icy and full of hatred. "Do I need a reason to hate someone like _you_?" His words were nothing more then a hiss.

I shrunk back and felt the tears gathered in my eyes. If I had for one second believed that Edward might possibly be pretending- which I don't think I consciously did- that whole concept went out the window. I ran out the door and ignored the pleading calls of Alice and Emmett and left. I was supposed to be spending the night at their house but now I don't think I could.

It was a hard drive home with tears clouding my vision but I made it home in one piece. The front door was locked so I settled on the swinging bench in front of the house and pulled out the spare blanket and book I kept hidden underneath the steps, just in case of instances like this.

EPOV:

"Edward, you inconsiderate dick! What have you done?!" Rosalie yelled at me and ran to the door to try and help Alice get Bella to come back.

I ignored them all, sitting in a shock all of my own. I don't know what had possed me to say such horrible words to innocent little Bella, but I instantly regretted them. She just makes me so angry- they way she... she... alright, I'll admit there isn't anything about her that makes me hate her. She was... perfect.

I just made an angel cry. "Oh, God. I have to go apologize!" I jumped up but Emmett pushed me back down on the couch.

The look in his eyes made me shrink back. He pulled a large fist back but before he could hit me I was slapped, twice. Alice and Rosalie were both standing over me with fury written plainly on their faces.

"Please, I have to go... I have to... I need to..." I trailed off. I had no reason to justify why I said that. It was easier to try to hate someone then it was to admit how much you really felt about them. But I went too far. I actually hurt her.

Their eyes softened when they realized I was sincere, only a little though. Emmett took one swing at me just to cool off and then I sat back and endured their verbal abuse.

"Can I _please_ go apologize for what I did?" I begged.

"You better." Alice threatened but I didn't stay to hear it. I dashed out of the door and ran straight to Bella's house.

I fought the whole way with myself. What to say, how to say it, how to even explain what I'm feeling. She wouldn't get it. And besides, odds were she'd hate me for the whole thing. I walked up the steps and was about to ring the doorbell when a soft, melodic voice caught my attention.

"What are you doing?" It asked.

I snapped my head to the left to see Bella wrapped up in a fleece blanket and reading Romeo and Juliet, a surprising choice for a seventeen year old girl.

"I came to apologize, Bella." I told her in a completely sincere voice. She _needed_ to forgive me, to understand.

"Apology accepted." She ducked her head back down and went back to reading.

I resisted the urge to growl loudly. She didn't even understand how bad I was feeling because of my harsh, out of place words. "Please, let me explain." I begged.

She looked up and waited patiently. I took a deep breath and built up my courage. I walked over to her. "Aren't you going to share your blanket?" I asked.

She just glared at me and lifted her arm. Once I was inside the blanket she quickly dropped it to her side.

"I was wrong." I admitted. She didn't say anything and I was completely infuriated by the fact that I couldn't read her mind. The only sounds coming from her was her quiet breath and her accelerated heart beat. "I was... out of line... to say that." God, since when have I struggled for words. I always knew exactly what to say.

"It's alright. You have every right to hate me." She said calmly as she avoided my gaze.

"I don't hate you, Bella." I waited for her to say something, anything. But she didn't; she only stared at me with her beautiful, doe-like eyes. "It's quiet the opposite, really."

Her jaw dropped. "You're lying." She accused as tears welded up in her eyes.

I raised a hand hesitantly to her face before gently wiping away the tears that had fallen. Her eyes closed and I kept my hand there for a minute, basking in her warmth. When it became hard to concentrate, I let my hand drop. Her eyes opened slowly and I could see there were tears still clouding her vision. Angels shouldn't cry.

"I tried to hard to hate you. It was so much easier when I was denying everything, Bella. But tonight... I went too far. It's too hard to hate someone like you, Bella. You're perfect."

She shook her head sadly. "No, I'm not." Bella's voice was choked by her tears. I wished desperately that I could make her happy, distract her, something, anything. Her pain was becoming my own agony.

"Yes, you are. You're my angel." She didn't say anything, but I could her disbelief in her silence.

I took her hand in mine and gave it a gentle squeeze. She looked up at me and smiled sadly. I decided to try and talk about something else. "What's your favorite color?" I asked her.

"It depends. Actually, it mostly changes daily." She sighed and closed her eyes as I rubbed soothing circles into her hands. "How about you?"

"Brown." I told her. Although, up until I first looked in Bella's eyes, my favorite color was red.

The questions came easily after that. It was nice. She was easy to talk to and we had a lot in common. Another part was the connection- I didn't have to try hard to make talk come. It wasn't forced. But, the very best part was that we didn't have to be all on each other to have a good time. I was content to just sit there and hold her hand while looking at the stars, saying nothing- something Jocelyn would never have been able to do.

I knew I was in love.

BPOV:

I was dreaming. I had to be dreaming. There was no way a person like Edward could really be here, holding my hand, talking to me, telling me he liked me. This had to be a dream, a very good dream.

I knew I loved him though. And if there was some other motive for doing this, I was sure I would die. This was what I was missing. Never, in my life had I felt as complete as I did here with Edward. I had found a family now and someone to love. This is my heaven on Earth.

"Bella," Edward said with slight alarm, breaking the silence. I followed his worried eyes to see that my shirt had come up a little, revealing the purple-blue color of my shrunken stomach. I blanched. "What happened?"

His eyes met mine and I froze. I couldn't lie to him while looking into his perfect, honey colored eyes. I could hardly form a sentence while being this close. So, I did the only rational thing I could think of.

I kissed him. 

Share with me the blankets that your wrapped in  
because its cold outside cold outside its cold outside  
share with me the secrets that you kept in  
because its cold inside cold inside its cold inside

and your slowly shaking finger tips  
show that your scared like me so  
let's pretend we're alone  
and I know you may be scared  
and I know were unprepared  
but I don't care

**_Alright, here's another chapter for you guys. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. Vulnerable by Secondhand Serenade. _****_BTW: Sorry about the earlier confusion. I accidentally clicked the wrong button when I was posting chapter nine... so here's the real one! (not chapter eight!)_**


	10. Chapter 10

**_Sorry about the cliffy but I didn't keep you waiting long. Here's another chapter for you guys. Enjoy : _**

EPOV:

"Bella," I said, my voice going slightly higher and showing my alarm. I knew she said she was clumsy, but _that_ clumsy? "What happened?"

I looked deeply into her eyes, which went wide with panic when she saw where I was looking. But the longer she stared into my eyes something changed in her expression. Before I could comprehend the look her lips pressed against mine. They were soft and warm, just like the rest of her.

But almost as soon as her lips were on mine, they were gone. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sor-" She went to apologize.

I didn't give her time to respond before I grabbed her face between my hands and kissed her back. Her lips moved against mine and her fingers knotted in my hair. I pulled her closer to me, feeling every inch of her body against mine. When her lips parted, that's when I had to stop- no matter how badly my body wanted to continue. With her scent that close, it couldn't be safe.

"I'm sorry," Bella said in a breathless voice while a delicious blush flooded her cheeks.

"No," I corrected in the same voice. "I don't mind."

"Then why'd you pull away?" Her mouth pulled down into a frown.

"Vampire, remember?" I pointed out. She laughed and a smile lit up her face. She looked like a real goddess when she smiled.

"Why don't we go back to the house?" I suggested and took her hand. The cool air swirled around Bella and I realized when she shivered that she didn't have a jacket. "Here, take mine." I handed her my jacket and she slipped it on. She looked positively adorable with it on.

I hoisted her onto my back. She felt far too light. I promised myself I'd make sure she eats when we got home.

_Edward, what are you going to tell Jocelyn? _I heard Alice's thoughts once we were relatively close to the house.

I stopped short. What was I going to tell her? I couldn't tell her I cheated on her. That was not an option. She'd probably go into a blind fury and that certainly wasn't safe for Bella. Perhaps I could act like nothing happened and break it to her slowly? Which one would turn out better.

But I ran out of time to think because we had reached the house.

"Bella, you know I really like you, right?" I asked and I saw her face become devoid of emotion, all the sparkle that was previously there in her eyes died.

BPOV:

Well, that had to be the worst break-up line ever. He already didn't want me. That just sucks.

I carefully wiped my face of emotion and looked up at him. "Yeah," Even my voice sounded dead.

"Well, I'm not really sure what I should tell Jocelyn yet... so maybe we should keep this on the down-low? I mean you can tell Alice or anyone you want to. But until I figure out how to end things with Jocelyn, we can't do anything in front of her." He suggested slowly, hopefully.

I just looked up at him and smiled sadly. I didn't want to have to hide it. I bet he was just embarrassed by me or something. "Kay," I just walked away then. I didn't want to start crying.

But I felt a pair of large hands grab me around my waist and turn me around. A pair of stone cold lips crashed against mine then for the second time tonight. His fingers knotted in my hair and his body pressed firmly against mine. I kissed him just as hard back until we were both at a loss for air.

"I love you." He whispered to me when once he caught his breath. I looked up at him doubtfully. "I do." His voice, even in a hushed tone, was passionate.

"I love you, too" I told him and meant every word of it. Even if he really didn't, I knew I did. "Let's go." I sighed and attempted to free myself from his stony arms.

Instead of letting me go, he just kissed me again on the lips- a quick chaste one- and then tore off into the house, leaving me dazed and one step behind.

I didn't bother looking for him, instead I went straight up to Alice's room.

"Well," Alice cried as she practically was bouncing off of her seat. It annoyed her to no end that she couldn't see my future.

I sighed. "Well he came and apologized and then... we kissed." I whispered the last part, not necessarily as a precaution but more of because I was completely mortified.

"No way!" Alice screeched as she just about fell off of the bed with excitement. I nodded. "Well, where is he now?" Alice wondered with a peculiar expression on her face.

"Probably with Jocelyn." I muttered.

"Dumping her?" She asked. I shook my head miserably. "I'm confused."

"He doesn't know what to say to her so he said for us to give it some time while he figures it out." I felt water springing to my eyes.

It didn't sound so fake the way Edward said it, but now I realized how bad it did sound. It sounded like he plain old used me and then made up something so he could keep on taking advantage of the ugly girl while the whole time he was laughing with the pretty girl about her behind her back.

The tears gushed down my cheeks while I sobbed silently. Alice jumped up, her tiny hands balled into fists and her face was enraged. "I'll kill him!" She yelled.

Before I could stop her she was out of the door. I took that as my opportunity to leave. This was turning out to be the most up and down Saturday of my life.

APOV:

"Edward, come with me." I hissed.

He looked up in alarm at me from where he was sitting on the couch with Jocelyn. She was at his neck with her lips but he was just staring at the wall, looking bored. Or at least until I came in.

I walked away before he could respond. He'd follow if he knew what was good for him.

" Alice, I-" He went to explain once we were out of Jocelyn's hearing range but I cut him off.

"No, you listen to me! Bella is my best friend and if you're playing with her emotions I swear to God I will personally tear you to shreds and then burn the pieces myself.

"I'm not playing with her emotions! What are you talking about?!" He almost yelled but I quickly put a silencing finger up to my lips and shushed him.

"She told me what you said after you guys kissed and that certainly sounds like messing with someone's emotions to me!" I yelled and repeated what she said in my head- up until then I had been reciting my favorite quotes in as many languages as I knew. There was no way he was getting off easy by going off of whatever I was thinking in my head.

"I did say that. But," He started guiltily but I cut him off once again.

"See, you are messing with her head. I swear, Edward, I will make it painful!" I threatened. No one messed with Bella while I had something to do with it. She seemed so hurt already, there was no way I would let some egg headed guy- even if it was my brother- ruin it.

"I didn't mean it like that. I was serious, Alice. I will tell Jocelyn. I just can't hurt her. No matter what, she doesn't deserve someone to cheat on her like that." I gave him a look that clearly told him I thought otherwise. "But I would never, ever in a million years hurt Bella. Alice, I love her."

I carefully looked over his face. After I found no signs of dishonesty, I smiled. "Alright, you're good to go. Sorry for getting on your back like that, Eddie. But no one hurts Bella on my watch."

He beamed back at me with a laugh. "You sound like a guard dog, Alice." He ruffled my hair lightly and I glared at him.

"Okay, well I'm going to find Bella. She still hasn't shared any details about your kiss yet." 

He grimaced, knowing very well that I was coming for him later. _That's right, you better fear me!_ He chuckled and I went off to my room looking for Bella.

"Bella?" I hollered but there was no response. "Where's Bella?" I asked my family who had all convened on the couch while I had been searching the house for Bella.

"She went home about a half hour ago. I thought you knew." Jocelyn said. Her tone clearly stated she very well knew that I didn't know.

I glared at her before stalking out to the kitchen to call Bella. She had given me her number and said it was only for emergencies. I guess this counted as an emergency. She was probably beating herself up about it, thinking he didn't like her. I had to set things straight.

The phone rang once then twice before a gruff male voice answered. "Hello," He answered, sounding completely unfriendly.

"Chief Swan?" I asked uncertainly. There was no way Bella's father was that mean. She'd never said anything about it.

"Yes, now what do you want?" He asked impatiently.

"Is Bella there? She left early from my house today and I wanted to make sure she was alright."

"Dammit!" He swore and I heard a loud thump. I was shocked. Who had that much indecency to swear on the phone? "Yeah."

"May I speak with her?" I asked politely.

"No, she's busy." He growled before hanging up.

Well, he was certainly an unpleasant man, I decided before hanging up with a childish frown on my face.

BPOV:

I sat down on the bench in front of my house just in time to see Charlie pulling up in his Cruiser. He completely ignored me and went into the house. I got up to open the door but he just slammed it and it locked again. I sighed. Today was just the _greatest_!

The phone rang in the kitchen, catching my attention. "Hello," Charlie answered in an unpleasant voice.

"Yes, now what do you want?" He asked. "Dammit! Yeah," He answered as he slammed a fist down on the table. "No, she's busy." He hung up and I froze. Oh dear God, that was a phone call for me. From Alice. Asking where I was.

I was dead.

Charlie thundered through door and yanked me right off the swing by my hair.

"What have you been doing?!" He yelled as he yanked me up higher off by my hair. I felt some of it pulling right out of my scalp. I didn't answer for fear that I would cry out. He just pulled harder and lifted me higher. "I _said_, what were you doing?!" He repeated.

"No- no- nothing!" I stuttered as I felt the tears building behind my eyelids that I had wrenched shut.

"Shut up!" Charlie roared before he punched me in the stomach with the hand that wasn't holding me up by my hair. "Stop lying, you stupid whore! What did you tell them?" He demanded.

"Nothing!" I cried.

He just threw my violently through the door, no need to bring the neighbors into this. He kicked me once I landed on the same side he had kicked me before and I almost threw up in my mouth the pain was that extreme.

"You're lying!" He accused and kicked me again. This time his foot collided with the side of my head. I felt myself slipping from the world around me, black encroaching on my vision. "How long has this been going on?"

"A while..." I slurred.

"How long?!" He sent another kick that landed on the upper proportion of my ribs, close to my armpit.

"Months." I sighed, happy that I was about to loose myself in that peaceful black oblivion. Waking up wasn't so fun though, that was always painful.

"Shit!" Charlie yelled as he stomped down on my right shin with his boot. I heard a sickening crack and with my final, ear piercing scream, I was lost from the world around me.

She walks to school with a lunch she packed  
Nobody knows what she's holding back;  
Wearing the same dress she wore yesterday,  
She hides the bruises with the linen and lace;  
oh

Somebody cries in the middle of the night,  
The neighbors hear but they turn out the lights;  
A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate,  
When morning comes it will be too late.

**_I don't own anything. There will be a major turning point coming up, but that's all I'm saying. ;. Warning- country song (to any of those who don't like country-It's not exactly my bag of chips either but the music video is so sad and it fits the story more then most songs cept the age of the girl. So sad.) Concrete Angel by Martina McBride_**


	11. Chapter 11

**_Okay, let me just say thanks for all the reviews and I love you guys so much! You guys make me smileeeee: Ha, the Cullens have yogurt because Bella's over all the time and they like to feed to skinny human girl. :p Yes, Jocelyn is a vampire but she just doesn't have anything special about her really. Maybe she's just a good kisser? Dunno. That'd be a weird trait to carry into your next life... But for the rest of you guys' questions or anything, you'll just have to read and seeeee. Oh, I'm so evil. _**

It felt like I'd been sleeping for so long. My head pounded and I couldn't move my right leg without pain shooting up from my shin. Eventually, I pulled myself into a sitting position and hung my head. I looked around the room to see if I had any cleaning to do. Thankfully Charlie had kept it blood-free.

A doorbell ringing caught my attention. I couldn't get up to answer it so I just yelled out. "Come in," Although my yelling was hardly even a normal talking voice. I wondered if they could hear it.

"Bella, are you there?" Alice called as she opened the door.

"In here." I told her quietly.

She gasped when she saw me on the floor. "Bella, what happened?" She looked around the room but when she saw nothing unordinary she calmed down slightly.

"I fell." I muttered darkly. I'm always 'falling.' "Could you help me up?" I asked with an outstretched hand.

She pulled me up easier. "Can you walk?" She asked.

I took a step and gritted my teeth together against the pain. "I think so." I managed to get out evenly after a few second.

"Alright..." She eyed me doubtfully but I just ignored her.

"Why are you here?" I asked as something occurred to me suddenly. Why would Alice be at my house on a Sunday?

"Bella," Alice said slowly. "It's Monday." She informed me with a look that clearly questioned my sanity.

I blinked, stunned, before I could respond. "Wow, I must have slept for a while. Saturday really took a lot out of me." I said sadly as I remember that disastrous day. I definitely couldn't face Edward now. I hadn't had any time to prepare myself.

She jumped up happily after I said that. "You're wrong, Bella. He really does like you! He told me himself that if he did anything to hurt that I had permission to burn every one of his CD's!" She told me. "It took a lot to get that promise though. He loves his CD's, but not as much as he loves you." She lightly tapped my nose with her finger.

"Whatever." I muttered darkly.

She looked down and then frowned at me. "Why are you wearing the same thing you wore on Saturday?"

"I told you Saturday took a lot out of me. I just went home and slept, woke up this morning- thinking it was Sunday- and then tripped on my way down the stairs. No big deal." I lied coolly. I was getting a lot better at lying then I thought I ever would.

"Well, let's go get you dressed." She decided and went to go up the stairs.

"How about you pick something out for me and bring it downstairs for me?" I suggested. I knew that would make her happy and it would save me an incredibly painful trip upstairs.

"Alright," She agreed happily and was back down the stairs before I could blink.

She had picked out a blue long-sleeved polo from Lacoste- definitely her purchasing, and a pair of baggy Sevens jeans- again, her purchasing. I got up unevenly while doing my best to keep a poker face. I don't think I was doing a very good job because Alice was giving me a suspecting look while I tried to hobble my way over to the door without looking like I had a broken shin.

"Are you sure you just fell, Bella?" Alice asked.

I didn't turn around or say anything I just nodded quickly and practically jumped to the bathroom. I felt tears pooling in my eyes so I quickly washed my face and then got changed while sitting on the toilet with the seat down. I looked at my shin for the first time. It had a very large bump. I'm assuming that's where the break was. The rest of it was a ghastly purple-black color along with some sickly green patches. That was going to be painful. **_(A/N: I don't think they have a bathroom downstairs but you'll just have to get over it!)_****_  
_**  
I dressed carefully, avoiding my right leg as much as possible. I bit my lip hard and let out a small squeak of pain when I accidentally touched it while trying to pull my pant leg up around it. These next few months weren't going to be pleasant.

"Okay, let's go." I announced. My voice sounded slightly breathless to my own ears and I wondered if Alice could detect it. Probably. But her look hadn't changed since I first went into the bathroom.

"Aren't you going to do something to your hair?" She asked.

I tried to run my fingers through it but it was a tangled mess. I just pulled it up into an extremely messy bun on the top of my head. "Come on, we're going to be late." I started my slow, painful walk to the car. I was trying not to limp but not walk on my right leg at the same time. I'm sure I looked a little less then inconspicuous to Alice's careful eyes.

She stood, deliberating for a second. Whether or not to be late and have good hair or be on time and look like I did. She sighed and just scooped me off my feet and went to the car. I was relieved to be off of that foot.

"You really 'fell' hard, didn't you?" Alice asked. I could hear the sarcasm clearly in her bell like voice. She knew something was up now, there was no denying she suspected something. I would just have to polish my acting skills for this one.

I nodded sheepishly. "I'm such a klutz. But this one really hurts." I told her with a wince.

She just frowned at me but said nothing for the whole car ride. Alice's smooth face had a large crease on her forehead as she contemplated something. If only I knew where her thoughts were taking her so I could lead her away from any thoughts that were getting to close.

APOV:

Something wasn't right. It was never right. Bella's always bruised and hurt but she claims to be clumsy. How clumsy could one person be to be that _covered_ in black and blue angry bruises? If there was anything wrong, Bella never showed any signs of it. She's always sad but there's never been any more signs of anything more going on. She just says she's lonely because her mom died and her father is never home. She also said things were getting better- that she wasn't lonely any more...

This was different, though. She could hardly walk on her leg. She did a good job of playing it off as nothing. If I hadn't of walked in on her slumped on the floor wearing yesterdays clothes with hair like a haystack, I might not have suspected anything other then a bad fall like she claimed.

But I knew better now. She was putting barely any weight at all on her right foot and the scent from build up of the salty water in her tear ducks proved just how painful her leg really was. She honestly was very good at hiding it. I would have thought it was nothing more then a sprain.

When we got to school I instantly went to Bella's side of the car and helped her out. "Thanks," She mumbled. I brought her to the first period, helping her support her weight by wrapping my arm around her waist. I did her a favor by passing it off as nothing more then a friendly gesture.

"I'll be right back. I've got to go talk to my family." I told her.

"No," She was suddenly panicked and I heard her heart rate accelerate profusely. I gave her a look but then followed her into the classroom. I guess I would have to tell my family what I found out later.

Later came before lunch. "I'm going to the library," I told Bella. "I've got to return a book." I held up a book for proof. She eyed it carefully and then nodded. "Are you sure you'll be alright?" I asked and snuck a quick peek at her leg, which I'm sure her sharp eyes didn't miss.

"I'll be fine," She snapped. I guess she didn't like people worrying about her. She turned away from me and began the excruciatingly slow process of walking to the cafeteria, which was three buildings over. Odds are I'd finish my conversation with my family before she even made it there.

I looked back at her once before I quickly found my family all talking around Rosalie's locker.

"Something's up with Bella." I told them. "This has gotten to be way to much. There's no way she could fall that much."

Their quiet murmurs were that of consent. They knew exactly what I was talking about.

"Saturday night," Edward started but then his eyes instantly were on Jocelyn's face. "When I was apologizing to Bella, I noticed something. Her stomach was bruised. Last time I checked it was hard to bruise a stomach by falling."

Emmett quickly muffled a snicker. I had to admit Edward commenting about Bella's stomach was odd.

"Don't you even start, Emmett. You're a perv. Bella lifted up her arm, therefore raising her shirt." Edward said defensively and kept his eyes away from Jocelyn's face.

"Yeah, sure. But why were you looking?" Emmett asked while raising his eyebrows suggestively with a smirk.

"I- I wasn't! But who wouldn't noticed a large purple spot on someone's stomach!" Edward's falter only fueled Emmett.

"Ha! You ad-" Emmett began but a sharp elbow was thrown into his ribcage by Rosalie.

"Stop, both you! You guys are so immature. This is serious! There is something going on with Bella and you guys are being idiots!" Rosalie yelled. Some freshmen gave her weird looks and she glared at them, causing them to quickly scurry away.

"Sorry," They both admitted.

"And when I asked her what happened she ignored me." Edward continued as if nothing had happened.

"She's in unbelievable pain right now." Jasper winced, feeling Bella's pain.

I opened my mouth to respond but a loud, piercing scream cut me off. Bella- I realized with wide eyes.

BPOV:

See, that was exactly why they couldn't know, I thought angrily. That's all I would get- their dumb pitying stares and concern. I didn't want to be treated.

I continued walking until I reached a large crowd. I wasn't sure what was going on but it sounded like someone was chanting fight. I rolled my eyes. People could be so animalistic sometimes. I just stood there and waited patiently until the fighting stopped.

All the sudden the crowed shifted before I could have time to respond and someone's foot collided directly into my shin. I let out a loud scream before I fell to the ground, desperately clutching at my leg. I rocked my self back and forth in the fetal position while I bit down on my lip and contorted my face, trying desperately not to cry or scream out again.

The whole crowd had turned to face me now but I ignored them. A pair of cold, large arms picked me up then and I immediately sighed, relaxing slightly in Emmett's arms.

I didn't know where they were taking me and I didn't care. The pain hurt so bad I just wanted to die.

"Bella, what happened?" I heard Carlisle's voice asking me.

I opened my eyes to find myself at the hospital.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, I can't be here. Please, take me home!" I begged. Charlie would absolutely kill me. That wasn't even sarcasm.

"Bella, calm down or I will be forced to sedate you. You're obviously in a lot of pain, now would you please explain to me what happened."

Carlisle put two large hands onto my shoulders and forced me to look into his eyes, which instantly calmed my heart. There was something about their topaz eyes that made me melt.

"I fell this morning and then today as I was going to the cafeteria, there was a fight and some kid backed up and he accidentally kicked me in the shin." I lied.

"Do you mind if I take an x-ray?" He asked.

I forced a smile. "Oh, no, Carlisle that won't be necessary."

"I insist."

"No, really, it's fine." I tried to stress the point but he wasn't having it.

He made me get changed into the patient dress and then he took me to the x-ray room. I ignored the frown that crossed his face after he saw my underweight and beaten body. There was no way I was telling him how all that had happened.

EPOV:

We were all waiting anxiously to see Bella, even Jocelyn- although she was just there because I was. The whole time we were waiting for Bella to come out after getting her cast put on she was trying to kiss me. Eventually I shoved her off of my lap and scooted away from her.

Finally, Bella came out. I felt my jaw drop, along with everyone else's. Bella looked absolutely horrible. Her legs and arms were far too skinny to be healthy and she was practically drowning in the hospital dress, although it was a small. And that was just the beginning. Every inch of her skin was covered in bruises of all different colors. The only part of her you couldn't see was her shin, which was covered in a red plaster.

"Bella," I tried to say but it came out as nothing more then a shaky breath.

She just laughed nervously. "I really am clumsy, aren't I?"

_Edward, that was not a break that you get from a fall, even if it was down the stairs as Bella claimed it to be. The front bone was snapped in half. You'll have to come see the x-rays. It must have been a whole lot of weight coming down on her shin to do that kind of damaged. She must be one tough girl to actually have walked on that for half a day. She's a brave one, that's for sure. _ Carlisle told me through his thoughts.

I felt my heart breaking for Bella. She was too strong for her own good. She needed help but she was too stubborn to just ask for it.

I pulled her aside from everyone with out Jocelyn noticing, but I'm pretty sure the rest of them did.

I instantly pulled her into my arms. "Bella," I sighed as I took a deep breath through my nose, inhaling her scent. She fit perfectly against me. She buried her head against me and I felt her fragile body shake with the force of her tears.

"Please, can I stay at your house? I- I" But she couldn't finish because she was crying even harder then before.

"Of course, sweet heart, anything you want." I told her as I rubbed her back.

I would do anything for her. 

You're not alone  
There is more to this i know  
You can make it out  
You will live to tell

_**Here's the last chapter for two days because I'm leaving for home. And since I'll be back in my own house (with my new trampoline merry christmas to me and all my friends) there won't be a chapter or two everyday. Probably every other day but I will try to make them longer for all of your reading pleasure. This one's going to be on the short side because my cousins' trying to get me to play DDR with her (i'm beastly at it though and will quickly kick her butt) and it's my last day here so I've got to clean up. : And there you go- the cats out of the bag now. You're Not Alone by Saosin.**_


	12. Chapter 12

**_Thanks for the support and the song. You guys are super duper. I love all your suggestions and will try to put the ones that fit into the story. : Oh, and Bella can't see any of it because the only vision she can get of Bella is Bella dead._**

BPOV:

I don't know what I was thinking- asking to stay with the Cullens. But it was too late to turn back now because I was in their house. We were all sitting on the couch in the living room, saying nothing. All of them were looking at me funny.

"I only want to stay tonight." I told them, coming up with a reason off the top of my head. "I've never broken anything before and I'd feel better at your house. Charlie will need me to make dinner for him tomorrow though." It was a good thing Charlie had gone on a vacation fishing trip.

"Bella, is there something you should tell us?" Alice asked.

"No," I said slowly. It was my burden to bear not theirs.

"Are you sure?" Rosalie asked.

"Yeah, Bella, are you sure? I mean you look pretty beat up." Emmett pointed out.

"I'm clumsy. That's all." I repeated for the thousandth time. I really should just wear a bag from the neck down.

"Alright," Alice said slowly. I doubted she believed me but she'd never get me to tell her, no matter what. "Rosalie, would you come upstairs with me for a second?"

Rosalie looked at her, slowly peeling her eyes from me and then nodded.

"Eddie bear, let's go to my room." Jocelyn didn't wait for Edward to respond before pulling him up the stairs. I winced. That hurt almost as much as a broken leg, watching the guy you love be pulled up to another girls room. He sent me one last fleeting look before disappearing up the stairs.

"Esme, why don't you and I go and make Bella some dinner. She must be starved, not getting any lunch or breakfast." Carlisle suggested.

"I'll go fix your bed." Emmett hoped off the couch and ran up the stairs.

Wow, everyone had managed to clear the room in about two minutes, leaving me alone with Jasper.

"What's going on?" I asked. There must be some reason behind leaving me alone with Jasper.

"Nothing's going on, Bella." Jasper said smoothly.

"You're lying." I stated and he frowned.

"Fine," Jasper muttered. "I asked them all to leave because I need to speak with you." He looked straight into my eyes and I looked away. There was no lying when you looked directly into any of their eyes. They were like some magnetic force, compelling you to be nothing but honest.

"Go ahead," I told him. My voice was hardly audible.

"Bella, something isn't right. I know you aren't just tripping or whatever you claim. You're feelings are, honestly, all over the place. You're always in pain and you're always sad. That's not normal. _Please_, let me help you."

"I don't need help." I spat. "I'm fine." I stood up, but just fell back down when I realized I had a cast on my leg. "Okay, I need a little help." I admitted.

He chuckled and a small smile appeared on his leonine face but it was all wrong. It wasn't a happy smile. It didn't reach his eyes.

"I'm sorry. I just-" I stopped there. I couldn't say anymore.

He nodded and gave me a brotherly kiss on my forehead before carrying me up to Alice's room. Her and Rosalie were sitting on the bed along with Emmett and Edward. They were all whispering with their heads ducked together too fast and to quietly for me to hear.

"What's going on?" I asked.

The all pulled away suddenly and Alice almost fell off the bed. That was unusual. They must have been really caught up in their conversation for me to have not heard them. "Nothing," Alice recovered quickly.

I gave them a disbelieving look. It obviously was not 'nothing.' "Please, tell me." I pouted.

"Seriously, Bella, it's nothing. Don't get yourself all worked up." Rosalie put in.

"Tomorrow right?" Alice asked in a low voice and I probably wasn't supposed to hear it. Judging by the way that their nods were all extremely inconspicuous, that would be a no. What was going on tomorrow

I scowled at them. There was totally something going on tomorrow that they won't tell me.

"Can the boys please exit the room?" I asked. "I want to get changed."

They left the room and Alice and Rosalie both helped me get changed into a pair of fleece pajamas that they had smartly ripped the right leg off of. I was suddenly bushed. Weird, I had slept all day yesterday and I was still tired. Breaking your leg took a lot out of you, I guess.

APOV:

"This is so frustrating!" I complained to Rosalie. Edward can't read her mind. I can't see her in visions. And she won't tell us what's going on!

"I agree." Edward said as he came in and joined our conversation. He was probably as frustrated as I was because he was in the same boat. What's so great about a power if it doesn't work.

"How'd you ditch Jocelyn?" Emmett asked in all seriousness. Jocelyn never left Edward's side unless he practically ran.

Edward chuckled. "I told her I had to go to the bathroom."

Emmett laughed once. He wasn't in the mood for joking. "That girl is dumber then a pole.

"How can we make her tell us?" Rosalie asked. I had been wanting to know that too. How to make Bella come clean.

"If only it was like in Harry Potter... with that magic potion stuff that makes you tell the truth." Emmett mused. I rolled my eyes at him. He could be such a moron sometimes, especially since he wasn't even kidding. "But that probably wouldn't work on her either."  
After Emmett's lame-brain comment, we sat in silence. No one really knew what to do. "How do we figure this out?" I finally yelled in a whisper.

A low voice came in from the door, malice evident in it's slightly nasal tone. "Why not just spy on her?" Jocelyn suggested as she leaned against the door frame.

"Of all the down right, inconsiderate...brilliant, smart... Oh, Jocelyn, thank you!" I cried

Before I could control myself I had jumped up and hugged her. She froze and had her arms locked to her sides and her neck craned away from me. "You're welcome."

Once my brain caught up with my actions, I released her. I can't believe I just hugged a girl with an I.Q. of a piece of toast. She instantly disappeared back to her room, not wanting to be hugged again. Huh, maybe hugging her wasn't so bad, if that's all it takes now to get her to leave...

"Spy on Bella?" Rosalie asked, uncertain.

"That doesn't seem like a really big invasion of privacy." Emmett admitted.

"Don't you see, it's the only way to find out what's going on. Bella's as stubborn as a mule and she certainly won't tell us on her own. If there's something bad going on, we need to do something. And sitting on our butts isn't going to get us any closer to finding out what's going on with Bella." I argued.

"I agree." Edward backed me up. I smiled at him.

"Let's vote. All for spying on Bella, raise your hands." I raised my hand and so did Edward and Emmett. "Those who oppose." Rosalie raised her hand while scowling at her husband.

"Okay, so when do we want to do this?" I asked. "I'm thinking tomorrow night would be best- get it done as soon as possible."

But before they could respond, Bella's voice resonated through the whole room. "What's going on?"

We all pulled away suddenly but she had caught me off guard and I completely fell off the bed. I was certainly not used to "Nothing," I recovered quickly.

She gave us a disbelieving look." Please, tell me." Bella pouted.

"Seriously, Bella, it's nothing. Don't get yourself all worked up." Rosalie put in.

"Tomorrow right?" I asked quietly so Bella wouldn't hear. They all nodded slightly. Bella didn't seem to notice.

"Can the boys please exit the room?" Bella requested "I want to get changed."

We helped Bella change into pajamas with the right leg ripped off of them. She went right to bed and I went to go talk to Jasper about how his conversation with Bella went.

"Not so good," He admitted. "She wouldn't tell me a thing. I almost got her right at the very end though. 'I'm sorry. I just-' and then she stopped there. It's so infuriating."

I frowned. She really _was_ stubborn.

"Jasper, there really is something going on isn't there?" I asked sadly.

He wrapped his arms around me and nodded. I was glad I had someone I knew could be there for me whenever I wanted, that I could trust with anything in the world and I knew he was all mine. Bella didn't seem to have that at all. And no matter how much I tried to believe nothing was wrong with her, I knew there was something.

Tomorrow night came quickly. We went to school as if nothing had happened. Kids asked a lot of questions though about Bella's leg. She seemed to get a lot of attention from Mike Newton, who loved to carry Bella's books to each class- much to Edward's dismay.

"Dress in black," I told them all before going into my room. I dress in black sweatpants and a turtle neck along with black converse. Rosalie came out wearing tight black jeans with knee-high leather boots on top of them and a very low v-neck top, of course.

"Rosalie, we don't need Emmett falling out of the tree because he's distracted by your cleavage." I hissed. She just grinned and kept walking.

I scowled at her back and followed her. If we got caught because of her, I swear to God...

We ran to Bella's house lithely through the dark, wet woods, narrowly dodging the trees by centimeters. We were soon at her small, square house.

Charlie wasn't home yet but you could hear Bella rummaging around in the kitchen. She was constantly stopping and drawing in sharp breaths or letting out low hisses. It sounded like she was trying to do it all without the crutches. Bella and her pride. We looked though the windows to see her leave and go up to her room.

"The tree," I informed them. We climbed up it and hid ourselves in the dense layer of leaves.

She was doing her homework quietly while listening to her Ipod, which was on a strangely low volume for a human to listen to it at. She must have good ears. Charlie's car drove up and we all froze, even Bella.

She quickly got up and hid her Ipod in a small box, placed it at the bottom of a large box that was filled with towels, and then put it in her closet. She then put away her books, too. She didn't bother to hide them. She just put them into her backpack and then placed that on the shelf in her closet, too and then closed the closet door. She then turned the lights off and then made a make-shift bed on the floor. 

"She doesn't have a bed?" Edward asked blankly. There was definitely a storm brewing underneath his calm façade.

No one answered him. I could have sworn when Bella took me up to her room that first time that she had a bed.

This lasted for about twenty minutes. "Let's see what Charlie is doing." I suggested.

We quietly leaped from the tree and then went around to the back. Charlie was sitting on the couch watching T.V. with a beer can in his hand. He took a large gulped, belched loudly. He crushed the empty can in his hand and tossed it to the corner of the room, where about six or seven other ones were littered.

I winced. Charlie was a drunk?

"Oh, man," Rosalie whispered as she shook her blonde head. "No wonder why she went to bed."

I shook my head no. "She's not asleep. Listen to her heart beat. It's practically off the charts." I pointed out.

"She's terrified." Jasper whispered.

"Bella," Charlie roared suddenly as he tore out of the kitchen.

I hadn't realized he had gotten up. I got up and moved closer, towards the kitchen. He had been looking at the notice the hospital and the school had sent home. I felt my face pale and I quickly dashed up the tree.

I looked in just in time to see him pull Bella out of the bed by her hair and throw her onto the floor. "What the hell is that?" He yelled as he pointed to her cast.

"A cast." She whispered.

He grabbed her by the cheeks hard enough to leave a bruise. "Look at me when I'm talking to you." He snarled. "How did you get this cast?" He demanded.

"The hospital." She whispered.

"You went to the hospital?!" Charlie let go of her face enough so he could slap her. The imprint of his hand was still on her face.

"I'm sorry! It wasn't my fault! The Cu-" She went to explain but he kicked her.

"Shut up!" He yelled.

She stopped moving and winced, awaiting whatever was to come. He just pulled her up by the hair and slammed her into the wall. She bit her lip and shut her eyes.

"I don't want to hear your excuses! You stay away from the hospital! You stay away from the Cullens. A piece of crap like you doesn't deserve the hospital or friends." He taunted her as he shook her shoulders violently, causing her to hit her head several times.

He sighed when she was unresponsive. "Stupid piece of crap." He threw her aside.

Bella landed on her night table and made the lamp fall off with her. She landed on top of the glass and sliced the palm of her hand a little.

"Crap," She whispered once Charlie had slammed the door and stomped down the stairs. She slid open the drawer of the nightstand that was on the floor and took out a first aid kit and expertly wrapped her hand.

"I'll kill him!" Emmett roared.

Rosalie and Jasper quickly made a move to grab him. No one noticed that Edward was already towards the edge of the branch and about to leap into Bella's room. I quickly tackled him and we both fell out of the tree with a loud thud. We froze but no one in the house noticed.

"Edward, you moron! What do you think you're doing?" I hissed. "This is a secretive thing!"

"You're just going to leave her in the same house as that monster?!" He asked in disbelief.

"We can't do anything just yet." I said thoughtfully. You can't be rash with things like this or it might end up disastrous but we certainly need to act soon.

"You can't be serious! He could kill her!" Edward made a move to get up again but I grabbed her around the legs and he fell back down.

"What are we supposed to say to the police? We are reporting abuse that we found out about because we were spying on them in their tree?" I asked sarcastically.

"There's no need to involve the police. Let's just kill him right now." Edward tried to get up again but my grip on his legs was to restricting for him to move.

"I agree. We can hold him hostage and take turns torturing him to death." Emmett suggested who was still being held hostage by Rosalie and Jasper, who were in much better control of their anger then him. Although, they both looked completely furious and about ready to kill Charlie as well.

"No, we need to plan this out better." I said with finality in my tone.

Loud snoring echoed through the house from Charlie who had passed out on the floor in the kitchen while on his way to get another beer.

We were silent as we continued to stare blankly at the square house. It still hadn't completely sunk in with me just yet. It felt like a bad dream, a nightmare. Who could hurt an angel like Bella, especially if she was your own daughter?

A movement from upstairs caused us to freeze again. A soft thud was heard for every other footstep and Bella grunted slightly with the effort. She walked into the kitchen were Charlie was passed out. I held my breath. Would she take revenge?

Bella grabbed him under the arms and started to pull him towards the living room. She hoisted him onto the couch after a couple of tries and then went to the closet. She grabbed blankets and a pillow and tucked her father in. She placed a light kiss on his forehead before climbing back up the stairs and going to 'bed'.

If my heart wasn't already broken, it was completely shattered before. Bella had so much heart. How could someone even think of doing something like that to someone like her?

EPOV:

I watched as Bella tucked in her abusive, drunk father and my head whirled with thoughts. But mostly, I was in complete awe. She had to be _the_ most selfless, forgiving, loving person I knew. Or maybe she just had a love of monsters, but even Charlie was a worse monster then I was. I'd never hurt an angel.

I felt myself calm while watching her. I knew it had nothing to with Jasper though, his thoughts revealed nothing but hatred for Charlie. No, it was Bella. Something about her endless love and patience seemed to calm me right to my very core.

I still wanted to kill Charlie though. Even thinking about it made my fists ball and my muscles flex with anticipation. How I wanted to ring his neck. I swear, once he first pulled her out of that bed I thought of a thousand ways to kill him. And if it weren't for the others, mainly Alice, I would have.

Although, watching this, Bella probably wouldn't have liked that. It seemed strange that after all he's done to her, she could still tuck him in and kiss his forehead.

I needed to run or hit something, do anything! I had too many emotions and thoughts running through my head right now and I knew if I stayed much longer I would do something I'd regret.

"I'm going for a run." I told Alice before taking off.

I don't think anyone noticed. They all were still standing there with expressions of anger and awe. I knew how they felt. Wanting to kill Charlie and then cry at the same time.

But the one thing I really knew was that Bella was the most amazing person I'd ever met with the strongest heart and I loved her more then anything else.

Hey girl you know you drive me crazy  
One look puts the rhythm in my hand.  
Still I'll never understand why you hang around  
I see what's going down.

Do you feel like a man  
When you push her around?  
Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?  
Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end  
As your lies crumble down, a new life she has found.

A pebble in the water makes a ripple effect  
Every action in this world will bear a consequence  
If you wade around forever you will surely drown  
I see what's going down.

**_Wow, I'm crazy insane for writting another chapter. But I've been going off the wall here, not even kidding. I was about ready to strangle something today. So I decided I would lock myself in a room and write again. So here's another chapter. But that's it. No more. You crazy, demanding people, you! BTW i still love this song with a passion. It was my inspiration for a story that I'm writting that's like a hundred or so pages and is not even half done Face Down by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus._**


	13. Chapter 13

_**Hah, you crazy people I'm not stopping the story. Don't be silly! I merely meant that there wasn't going to be a chapter for the days I was driving down from Canada and that you people won't be getting two chapters a day anymore. That's all. The story will continue. **_

_**Also, I edited all the chapters and changed a bit of chapter tweleve. As someone pointed out- Bella does not have a bed. I forgot about that when I was writting it, but it is changed now. So, thanks for that. And, the better version of the begining of chapter six is up. So, enjoy.**_

_**And wow there's a lot of questions if you feel like getting the answer then IM me if you have AIM at**_ x333 live ur life

I walked up to Alice's car like usual. The only thing that surprised me was the unusual audience in the back seat. Emmett, Rosalie and Jasper were sitting there. Edward was in Rosalie's convertible parked behind them with Jocelyn in the front seat. A huge frown was on his face. 'Sorry' He mouthed while Jocelyn continued to talk, probably about nothing.

I turned my attention back to the people behind me. "What's going on?" I asked slowly.

"Nothing," Emmett answered immediately with a grin. There was something wrong with that grin. It was far to forced.

Something was off. There was a very secretive thing going on with them and they weren't telling me. I wonder if it has anything to do with the whole secretive whispering that they were doing yesterday.

I said nothing. Fine, if they were going to keep to themselves I could that as well. The whole car ride they were all exchanging worried glances between themselves and me.

The weird looks lasted the entire day. Instead of walking to classes with them I would find them all huddled up in a corner, whispering within each other. And then, when I would come up they would just smile at me, rather nervously, and then begin to walk with me.

On the second day I just didn't bother going to find them. I woke myself up early and drove myself to school. I skipped lunch but Alice only came to find me in the last ten minutes with a sandwich for me and instructed me to eat. She stared at me strangely then. I just glared back.

"Are you coming over tonight?" She asked me because I didn't come over yesterday.

"Are you going to ignore me?" I countered.

She blanched. "We're not ignoring you, Bella. There's just a problem that we need to fix. Don't worry."

"Well, tell me. I can help."

"No, now come on. You're going to be late." She pulled me out of the chair lightly.

"Aren't you going to class?" I asked.

"Of course," She answered. "I just need to quickly meet with my family. I'll be there on time though, don't you worry."

I gave her an exasperated look. What in the world was going on with them? Was it something I did? I huffed and walked in the direction of my class.

When I got to their house, things were somewhat normal. Alice gave me a make-over and Rosalie read to us magazine articles. Emmett came in and started making fun of me. Except there was tension, tension that wasn't there before. It was driving me insane. And when they thought I wasn't looking they gave me pity looks. I'd just glare at them. Also, they forced me to eat a whole lot more food then should be healthy to fit in one stomach.

"I'm going out for a hunt," I heard Jocelyn announced to Edward from where they were sitting on the couch, probably kissing or something else that I didn't want to picture. "Eddie bear," She purred. "Do you want to come with me?"

"I just went yesterday. That's alright. You have fun." Edward said offhandedly.

She huffed. "I swear these past few months I don't even know who you are anymore. You never want to have fun with me." She whined.

"Sorry, I've just had a lot to think about."

"Well, I hope you don't keep thinking for too long. I'm getting bored." She slammed the door.

A pair of arms wrapped around me as soon as the door closed and I jumped. "Listening in are we?" A velvety voice whispered in my ear.

My heart was already racing a mile a minute. "I- I don't know what you're talking about."

He chuckled and then spun me around to face him. He smiled crookedly and my heart stopped. "I love you, Bella." His whispered as his lips lightly kissed underneath my jaw and then continued kiss down my neck to my collar bone.

I felt the room spinning.

"Breath, Bella," He instructed with a laugh.

I took in one shaky breath and laughed a little too. "You dazzle me."

"I think you've got it backwards." He said as I traced a little pattern on his chest with my finger.

I shook my head. "You're definitely the dazzler."

He just laughed and pulled me into a tight hug. "Mmm, I never want to let you go." He gave me a small squeeze and I smiled.

"Edward, if I ask you something do you promise you'll answer me with complete honesty?" I wondered.

"Yes, of course, my love, what do you need to know?" He asked as he studied my face carefully with a worried expression of his own.

"What's going on? Why are you all acting different?"

He frowned then. "Don't worry about that."

"But I am worrying about that. What's going on? Please tell me, I can help." I almost begged.

"Really, Bella," He insisted. "Don't worry about that. It will all be over soon, I promise. And then things will be perfect."

I just frowned and crossed my arms angrily. Why won't they tell me? They've always insisted that I was a part of the family and now when there's something going on that seems to be fairly important that they're not telling me.

"Come on, love," Edward kissed me on my forehead. "There's no reason to be angry."

He kept on kissing me on every inch of my skin, saving my lips for last. I was still glaring at him but my resolve was weakening as he kept kissing me. "Please, don't be angry with me." He begged with his lips just lightly brushing the corner of mine.

That drove me over the edge. I turned my head so his lips were fully on mine and kissed him back as my heart pounded out a jagged rhythm. My lips parted and he pulled away then.

"Not so fast, Bella," Edward warned with a smirk on his face.

I turned my head from him and hid behind a curtain of hair- my own personal shield. He kissed Jocelyn like that, worse then that, all the time.

A white hand reached through and grabbed my chin gently. "What's wrong?" He asked.

I just shook my head. Rejection didn't sit too well with me.

"Please, tell me," He begged as he forced me to look at him. I prayed I didn't have tears in my eyes.

I just looked at him sadly. He looked thoughtful before his eyes opened wide. "Bella, do you think I don't want to kiss you like that?" He asked almost angrily.

I nodded pathetically.

"You're absurd." He shook his head and his copper hair fell into his eyes. He was far more Godly then anyone like me deserved.

"Why would you want to?" I mumbled miserably.

"Because I love you, because you're beautiful and sexy, because you make me want to…" He stopped there and if he could I bet he would have been blushing.

A warm blush flooded my cheeks. "You're just saying that."

"No, I'm not. The only reason I won't kiss you like that is your blood." He let out a low whistle. "You have no idea what it does to me, Bella. You smell so delectable, better so than anyone I've ever met- like freesia…" He murmured as he grabbed my hand and inhaled deeply at my wrist.

I tried to believe him but it was too impossible. Someone like him couldn't possibly love me. But every time I looked into his eyes it was impossible not to believe him. The looks he gave me were intense and love-filled. It was only in his absence that I didn't believe him, especially knowing he was with Jocelyn.

"How's your leg?" He asked and I realized I had been staring at it and blushing like madly.

"I don't even feel it most of the time, except when it itches." I told him. It was true. It didn't really hurt. I'd had breaks that didn't get the luxury of a cast so I was fine.

"Good, I don't want you in any pain. If it hurts, just one little bit, you tell me."

I just rolled my eyes. Sure, it was a nice gesture but honestly, I don't need anyone's babying.

"Let's watch a movie." I suggested and walked out. He was already in the room and looking at the movies.

"What genre?"

"Horror," I suggested instantly.

He gave me a strange looked but walked over to the side of the enormous horde of movies they owned to the ones that held horror.

"How scary?" He asked.

"The worst you got," I grinned at him. I loved horror movies. Something about them makes the horrors I face daily seem that much duller and less graphic.

Once again with the look, and he picked out one that looked promising. He put in the movie and we settled down on the couch. I was lying on the couch and he was lying behind me with his arms wrapped around me.

"Edward," Alice said, appearing out of nowhere. "Jocelyn's almost home, so unless you plan on telling her…"

He shook his head. "I still have no idea what I'm going to say to her. How do you dump someone, after ten years, for someone else and tell them that you cheated on them?"

Edward did have a point. That does sound difficult to word, but if he really cared then he would do it. I decided then that if he hasn't said anything to her about it by the end of this week it would be make or break, right then and there.

I didn't wait for him to release me before I got up and walked towards the door. "I should be getting home anyways."

They both grimaced. "Are you sure, Bella? You could just stay here for dinner once. I'm Charlie could handle it on his own for once." Alice suggested.

"That's alright I have homework and stuff to do. Charlie is out of town for the week anyways." I lied easily.

Charlie was out of town but I had absolutely no homework to do. The truth was I couldn't handle being in the house with Edward and Jocelyn together. And now I didn't have anyone to distract me because they were all being super secretive.

Their faces were easily relieved. Either they were glad I had homework or that Charlie wasn't home. Whatever the reason, it probably wasn't very good.

"You can do your homework here." Edward suggested.

"Yeah, I don't want you to be all alone." Alice put in.

"I'll still be alone here." I muttered but because of their stupid vampire hearing, they clearly heard it.

Alice frowned and Edward grimaced.

"This will all be over soon." Edward reinstated.

I just shook my head. "Whatever." I was in a bad mood today.

That Thursday, I walked as quietly as I could up to the Cullens and made sure I was downwind. They'd have no hope of hearing me then.

"We have to figure out what to do about Bella." Alice whispered urgently.

"Yeah, this is getting out of hand." Edward agreed.

I felt the color drain from my face and tears weld up in my eyes. So I was the problem. It was all a joke, a joke that had apparently gone on long enough. I backed up quickly before they could see me and then I ran in the other direction as quickly as I could manage with a cast on.

"Uhm, I don't feel well," I told the nurse as soon as I made it to the office. "May I go home?"

She took one look at my emanciated frame, pale face, and cast and quickly nodded. "Of course, my dear- I'll just excuse you right now. Who's your teacher?"

I gave her the name and then walked out. I remembered that I didn't have a car and groaned. Oh well. I hid out in the bathrooms until the campus was empty and then ducked right out. I was so thankful Alice couldn't see my future then.

On the walk home, I cried. I let everything that had been building up out and it felt like I couldn't breath. A couple of times I would have to stop and try to reinstate a regular breathing pattern.

I just couldn't believe it. They spent months with me. Why not have gotten rid of me before then? And Edward, I couldn't believe that! How dare he claim to feel such strong emotions for me and then do this to me?!

By the time I got home I was exhausted. Crying and walking home with a cast on can really wear a small girl out.

I slept until Friday morning. I went outside and put a note on my door reading 'Sick, please don't come upstairs. I'm probably sleeping.' And then went back to my room and tried to even out my breathing and heartbeat to make it believable.

I heard the car pull up and their chatter. I waited the amount of time I thought it would take them to go around the bend before getting out of bed.

I got dressed in an outfit that I wouldn't dress in on my own. I wore a pair of light wash Abercrombie and Fitch jeans that actually fit me snugly and a tight white t-shirt underneath a black trench coat with large buttons and pockets.

I was pleased with myself and actually went as far as to put on make-up and do my own hair. I pulled it into a high ponytail at the back of my head with the front of my hair teased. I had my eyes lined in black an used a little more mascara then I usually would on my own and then put on a light charcoal eye shadow around my eyes. I looked very chic if I do say so myself.

I sighed- all dressed up and no where to go. I sat in the kitchen and looked out the window idly.

A great thought occurred to me as I gazed out upon Charlie's cruiser. Hey, it might not be the best ride but it's a way to get out of here.

I grabbed some money that I had kept stashed for emergencies and went out to the cruiser.

I didn't turn on the music. Instead I rode in silence, reflecting. Hell, it may have all been some cruel joke as I had suspected from the beginning- they were the best few months of my life. And, if I had a choice, I wouldn't take back one second of it.

APOV:

"Well, that was weird." I announced as I got back in the car. I didn't start it right away. I frowned at her front door.

"Yeah," Emmett agreed. "She's never sick."

Rosalie just nodded and Jasper looked thoughtful.

"She's nervous." Jasper announced.

We listened closely but her heartbeat was slow and her breathing was heavy and even.

"She's probably dreaming." Emmett decided.

I gave her room one last look before putting the car in reverse and heading for school.

I had a bad feeling all day, like something was going to happen. It wasn't until lunch that I finally got that fateful vision.

_There was a dark alley. All you could see was a girl in a black coat walking by alone on the sidewalk and then a pair of men appeared at the end of the road in the direction she was walking. She whipped around only to see men appear at the other end as well. _

With a spasm of horror I realized that was Bella.

**_Chapter chapter chapter : I don't feel like finding a song cause I'm too distracted. There will be one later. :_**


	14. Chapter 14

_**Hm, well I don't see where I said Bella had a car... but if someone could tell me which chapter I'll fix it. In the begining in Bella's first point of view, I said she didn't have a car. Although I did say Bella took her dads police cruiser but she doesn't have her own car. If thats not what you're talking about- hey, I miss things. So keep the corrections coming because I want the story to be the best it can be! And I know my logic behind them not seeing Bella was flawed but it's my story, so roll with it :DThanks for the support :p And this chapter will be a little short and has a little bit of a filler at the end. Oh well.**_

BPOV:

I walked the streets of Seattle without really taking any of it in. My thoughts were elsewhere and I soon found myself lost. I was in some unfamiliar alley devoid of people or stores. It looked like I was getting to the warehouses or the backs of stores.

The wind had decided to pick up then, just adding to the eerie effect. I picked up my pace, eager to make it to the road two extremely long blocks over that actually had people. I could just barely make out the sound of them if I stopped and listened.

I picked up my pace, feeling ill at ease. I had finished covering half the block when I heard someone behind me. My whole body stiffened and I tried to recover and look a little more natural. Nothing sets someone deranged off like fear.

"Hey, doll face, wait up!" One of them called loudly. It sounded as if he were drunk.

I just kept walking and acted as if I didn't hear them. The goose bumps were raised on my arms and I tried to control my nervous shaking.

"Baby, where you going?" A different voice called and I grimaced. Good God, there's another one.

"Save me," I whispered to no, as if it was almost a last defense. I cursed the stupid cast that was weighing me down. If it weren't for this stupid piece of plaster I'd just sprint off. But, no- I just couldn't catch a break.

APOV:

"I don't understand." I muttered as Edward revved the engine. "What in the world was she thinking?!"

The rest of them sat sullenly in the backseat as I complained to myself from the passenger's seat.

I stiffened and Jasper grabbed my head as another vision came to me. I growled angrily. It was the same vision that I've been getting of Bella since the first day I met her. The only difference this time was that it was even clearer now. This was it. Bella was going to die.

"Edward," I almost screamed and he pushed the car past 150 mph.

"I know. I know." He growled and continued to push the speedometer.

I squeezed my eyes shut in concentration as I tried to see how it was going to happen. To know what we needed to do.

_Bella turned her head halfway to the side and peeked over her shoulder. The men were much closer then she expected. Her pace picked up and the men exchanged devious smiles. Her breath hitched and her face looked almost pained. _

The vision then split in two.

_Bella was running with a slight limp. Her head whipped around just in time to look right into the blaring headlights of a large Hummer. _

_Bella had tears leaking out of her eyes as she gazed upon the faces of four men that had her cornered in a dark alley that was completely empty of people. _

Which one was worse? Which one would happen?

There weren't answers. Only painful decision to make that each ended up in disaster. She could be raped and possibly killed or hit by a car and possibly killed. Each one was set in stone and there wasn't a way out.

Edward's face was a mask of utter hatred. It was spilling out every pore of his face- the utter rage. His loathing was easy to read.

I wasn't sure if I was glad Jocelyn was still at school or not. I wanted Edward to tell Jocelyn. Hell, I wanted Jocelyn way, _way_ out of the picture. Bella was my sister in all meanings of the word but blood, especially since I didn't have any of my own. But in the middle of a crisis like this we couldn't afford to have a big deal made out of Edward and Bella while we're trying to save Bella. And Edward's unexplained rage at the men and need to hurry more then the rest of us would be sort of hard to explain and we couldn't afford Jocelyn's problems right now.

_Bella ducked behind a dumpster and put a hand to her heart and tried to quiet her breathing. She heard footsteps and stopped breathing all together. A man popped up in front of her. She let out a terrified squeak and tried to run in the other direction but a man caught her around the waist. She pulled her foot back and kicked him where it hurts. He groaned and dropped her. Bella disappeared farther into the shadows of the alley. _

BPOV:

I turned my head a little to the side and let my eyes peek to the side. They were far too close for comfort. They were both laughing and elbowing each other in the ribs. One of them tripped up a little, proving the drunk theory.

"You checking us out?" One of the called and laughed loudly.

I quickly turned my head forward and my paced increased again. I squeezed my eyes shut and fruitlessly hoped this was all a dream.

"Hey," Another male voice called from far in front of me. My eyes popped open and I felt as though I'd been slapped. There were two ahead of me now too. My gut clenched and it felt as though I was going to throw up.

"Please, no, please no." I begged quietly as hot tears built up behind my eyes. This was not how I want to go.

I wasn't sure what to do. Pick up my pace and put myself closer to the ones in front of me? Slow down and put myself closer to the ones behind me? It was a loose, loose situation.

I closed my eyes again and took a deep, shaky breath in, swallowing the tears that were dangerously close to spilling.

Calm down, the optimistic side of me yelled, you don't know what they want.

Yeah, right, they only want one thing and one thing only- you, the more honest side countered.

I shook my head. Here I was, about to have who knows what done to me and I'm arguing with myself. I should be figuring out a way to get myself the _hell_ out of here.

Being strategic, I kept my pace and let it play out the way it should have. The men were laughing manically and I could almost hear them thinking 'We've got her now.' The men behind me were about 10 yards behind me and the men that I could actually see were a little bit farther.

I composed my face- although I'm sure it didn't look as fierce as I wanted it to. I rooted my spot and waited for it all to unfold.

EPOV:

The car wasn't going fast enough. The engine was sputtering in resistance to the speed I was taking it, but it wasn't enough. There was still a ways to go until Seattle and that was all a waste of time that we didn't have.

"Edward," Alice warned. "Slow it down."

"What?!" I roared. Did she have any idea what was at stake here?

"We can't get to Bella if the car is broken down." She hissed.

I listened closer to the car. It was groaning now and I the friction in the gears was at a dangerous level. I slowed the car down enough that the noises stopped.

"Better?" I growled at her.

She just gave me a look and then closed her eyes and concentrated on the future.

The rest of the ride was in a tense silence that was only broken when Alice got different glimpses of the future.

Finally I saw the signs for the turn off for Seattle. Just another few minutes and we would be in the city. Then came the hard part- finding Bella in time or in a condition that was fixable. No, Bella would be fine. We were going to save her.

BPOV:

"She's waiting for us." The one that was closest to me joked.

I gulped down my fear and smiled welcomingly at him. His eyes just about popped out of his head but he took another step forward. The only thing between me and freedom was his body. I blinked slowly and then looked up at him invitingly. He licked his lips and stepped forward, placing a grimy hand on my neck. I raised my leg slowly and then kneed him in the groin. He let out a loud scream of pain and then crumpled on the ground.

But I didn't wait for any of that before I took off as fast as I could with a leg in my condition.

I assumed they tried to help him up because the one that I kneed groaned. "Leave me. Get the girl!"

But by then I was had safely hidden behind a dumpster in an alley close to the end of the block. I put a hand to my heart and attempted to control my breathing. Footsteps echoed through the area and I stopped breathing all together. Without warning one of them popped up right in front of me. I squeaked a little and jumped. I tried to run but one of them grabbed me around the waist.

His touch felt wrong and it angered me. I pulled my leg back abruptly and kicked him in the groin like the last one. I ran into the darkness of the alley and was relieved to see that it eventually brightened. I just had to make it that far.

APOV:

"Edward, that way!" I yelled panicked.

I couldn't see what was going to happen anymore. It was changing too quickly. The men were changing from sexually things to Bella to abusive things to Bella quicker then I could keep up. Four different men's plans were making everything difficult to keep up with and then Bella's changing plans just added to the chaos.

He turned down the street that I told him too but it was empty.

"They're supposed to be here!" My eyes searched the street over and over again but I just couldn't find it.

"Where now?" Edward growled.

I shook with the pressure. "I don't know!" I finally moaned.

He just growled in frustration and spun the car around so it was going back in the direction we came from.

Rosalie placed a hand on my shoulder in defeat, her face passively upset. Emmett looked like he just couldn't comprehend it, as if his mind just wasn't except that this was really happening to Bella. It was worse then in Bella's room with Charlie. Then we could have stepped in, we had a handle on things. Now, we couldn't even find out where Bella was.

We drove down the street just in time to see a girl pop out of the alley looking startled but excited. Another car was coming from the other direction and didn't see her.

"NO!" I yelled but it was too late. The car had pummeled right through Bella at a speed that couldn't be healthy.

I watched in absolute horror as the Bella rolled across the front of the car and landed on the other side not so delicately. The car just kept driving.

"Asshole!" I yelled as I flung the car door open and ran to Bella's side. Edward was already there.

EPOV:

The second the car contacted with Bella I had ripped out of the car. I was at her side in an instant.

"Edward?" She asked through squinted eyes.

I grabbed her hand and pressed it to my face. It was already colder then it should be. "I'm here, my love." I told her.

I looked around to see her body loosing blood fast and held my breath.

"Edward, get out of here." Alice said as she checked Bella's wounds. "You don't need to be a hero."

"No," I growled.

"Let's go." Alice commanded.

I nodded and pulled her close to me. She felt even lighter with the loss of blood.

"Not so tight, Edward- her body is pretty broken." Alice told me.

I looked closer and it was true. Her whole body looked broken. I'd guess a couple of ribs and her legs, possibly an arm.

Bella let out a low moan. "Please, don't go." She begged when I loosened my hold.

"I'm not going any where." I vowed.

" Alice, call Carlisle and tell him to come as quick as he can to the Seattle hospital. I want Bella under his care." I told Alice.

Bella clutched herself closer to me and I took a deep breath in of her even headier scent. It was so much stronger when it was free from her flesh.

The whole car ride there Jasper was grimacing, feeling Bella's pain. A couple of times Bella tried to go to sleep but I kept on waking her up. She couldn't go to sleep. She might not wake up.

We carried her into the hospital were she was immediately taken care of. That just left us to sit in the waiting room. I hung my head and placed it in my hands. It was hard to sit still without Bella in my arms but at least I could check her progress with my special talents.

Alice sat there staring at the wall while Jasper rubbed her back with a sullen expression. Rosalie was just sitting there with a permanent grimace on her face while Emmett shook his head back and forth slowly.

If I could cry, I'd be blubbering like a baby. Bella gave reason to my existence. I'd never known what I was missing until the day that I walked into that kitchen to find a skinny girl eating yogurt. All that time I'd wasted before that… I regret it all now. I regret not telling Jocelyn because that only cut out time. I regret trying not to feel anything for Bella because that only made it worse. But what I regret most was not just taking her out of that God damned house when I wanted to.

All of this was my entire fault. If only I'd been there… I could have stopped them. I could have saved her. I could have sheltered her from that car. I could have done something! Now I can't do anything.

If she dies… What will I do? Well, that's a stupid question. I'd follow her. I'd follow Bella anywhere. Of course, I might not make it into heaven- where she's going. But I'll be damned if I live any day on this Earth in a place where she is not. That is my definition of Hell. It just took far too long for me to realize it. And now it's all coming back to bite me.

I deserve it.

"Uh," A doctor's voice cleared from the direction of the doors. My head snapped up. "We're not sure if she'll make it."

Will you stay awake for me?  
I don't wanna miss anything  
I don't wanna miss anything  
I will share the air I breathe,  
I'll give you my heart on a string,  
I just don't wanna miss anything.

And if it's a hero you want,  
I can save you. Just stay here.  
Your whispers are priceless.  
Your breathe, it is dear. So please stay near.

**_Well, it's taken a while for me to update (at least with my rate it has) but here it is. I went shopping with a friend the first day I was back,hung out with skater kids, sleep over with on of my bffls, and then a movie with my boyfriend. But here it is! There won't be another one for a few days because I'm hanging out with more skaters and then giving someone a makeover with another of my bffls Dum dum dum! Will she live? Willl she die? Keep reading! Heh, cliffiesssss! Awake by Secondhand Serenade_**


	15. Chapter 15

**_Thank you for telling me where it is. I wasn't saying people were lying about the mistake I simply didn't know where it was. Okay, to make things perfectly clear- she doesn't have a car. Sorry about that. I know some of things aren't exactly the most logical things or what would seem like the best idea. I'm not going to make excuses because that's how I needed so it would make sense with my story. Sorry if you don't like it but you'll just have to deal because, like I said, it's my story. _**

EPOV:

Before I could respond logically I had crossed the room in two large, fast strides and was gripping the doctor's coat with my hands, slightly lifting him up. "What?" I growled.

His eyes were wide and he struggled to speak. "She's heavily sedated and she's in almost a full body cast but we're not sure if she'll pull through because her body was extremely fragile and underweight. It's decreasing her odds of survival." He managed.

It took a very conscious effort but I slowly unwrapped my fingers from his coat and set him on the ground with a grudging "Sorry."

He cleared his throat and readjusted his tie before looking back up at me. He took another step back away, out of reach of my hands, before talking. "Would you like to see her?"

I nodded eagerly. "She'll be under." He warned. But I was already down the hall without asking for the room number. Mind reading was so convenient sometimes. The others were not far behind as they followed my lead.

I pushed the door open and my jaw dropped. "Bella," I whispered brokenly. It was a sound to match her fragile looking state. She was covered in a white plaster and was held up in various places by several matching white loops. Every inch of her skin that wasn't covered by casting was covered in scratches, some slim and some painful looking.

"Oh my," Alice spoke. I rushed to her side and the rest took seats around the room. 

"Can you see anything?" I asked without taking my eyes from Bella's face. She looked so breakable. Her once skinny face now looked sallow and unhealthy with deep bruises under her eyes. Thankfully results had shown nothing was wrong with her head just merely bruised.

Alice closed her eyes, deep in thought. When she opened them again they were peaceful. "She's going to be fine." She smiled brightly. I tried to read my mind to see the reassuring picture of my living Bella but there was none.

"What's going on?" I asked Alice and finally pried my eyes away from Bella.

Alice was grinning so hard it probably hurt. There was no trace of unhappiness or secretiveness in her eyes. "You'll see soon enough, Edward. Relax." She commanded. I took a deep breath and my eyes settled back on Bella. "Oh, and Carlisle will be here in a few minutes to relieve the other doctor."

I nodded and started to rub soothing circles with my thumbs on Bella's hands. She was so bony. I wondered just how little food she had been receiving at her house while my family and I were being painfully oblivious. How could we have missed something that was now so obvious? It didn't take an idiot to notice how skinny she was and all the impossible to bruise by tripping places she was bruised in.

Soon Carlisle came through the doors. His face fell at the look of Bella and he exhaled painfully. He regarded Bella as a daughter and no father likes seeing the child so vulnerable. The thoughts in his head were strangely chaotic from his usually calm mind. As he read the charts I looked through them in his mind. He then went to his own examination.

"She'll live." Alice put in.

Carlisle groaned. "I wish they would have waited before the put on this ridiculous cast. It's so difficult to examine her through these."

The room was tense as Carlisle took his examinations and compared them to the charts and her casts. His lips curved up a little on the sides in a half-hearted attempt at a smile. "Yes, you're right."

My heart soared as a radiant smile stretched across my face. I turned back to Bella and felt the happiness slip away. Sure, she was going to live, but she was still stuck in plaster.

Alice pulled out her phone to call Esme who had stayed at home at Alice's request. "Esme will you please start making Bella a medical room?"

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Carlisle was heading to the door. He spoke when his hand reached the doorknob, explaining, "I'm going to see if they will let Bella come home with us when she is more stable to our personal medical center to stay with us for the next few months while she recuperates- to be in a more comfortable surrounding."

I nodded. They certainly were brilliant. I'd never have been able to come up with that under this pressure. My brain can hardly think of anything other then my beautiful Bella was unconscious and barely alive right now.

The next few days were painful. It was a slow, heartbreaking process to watch Bella recover. She was still unconscious but her body- with all the fluids and nutrients it was being injected with- was getting healthier.

"She's going to wake up tonight." Alice told me. Her eyes swept over my face with concern before settling on my black eyes. "Why don't you go hunting?"

"No," I said, stubbornly crossing my arms over my chest.

Her gaze was condescending. "I trust you'll want to spend every moment with Bella until she wakes up." She began, her voice lilting. I nodded. "And how do you plan to do that while you're fighting your thirst, which you already are more then usual?" She asked and she sounded genuinely curious but she knew what I'd say.

I sighed. "Fine, but if she wakes up before I'm back I will personally throttle you." I warned before taking off out the door.

When I returned a few hours later after feeding from the local game, Bella was still safely asleep. Alice's face was smug, "told you so."

I nodded and took my place beside Bella that I hadn't left once except for when forced to by nurses so they could address to Bella. Those were the moments I bothered to clean myself up a little or keep up the human façade.

"She'll wake up in about twenty to thirty minutes." Alice said as she let out a deep sigh. I knew the feeling. I haven't been able to breathe properly this whole time. I still don't know what possessed Bella to do this, but it probably had to do with me or my family. I could feel it.

I sat waiting impatiently until Bella's eye lids finally fluttered open. She took a look around the room and I heard her heartbeat increase. "Bella, love, calm down." Her eyes snapped to me and they seemed to soften for an instant before all signs of life died from her eyes at an alarming rate. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," She spoke quietly and she removed her hand with mine to fold them delicately in her lap, watching out for the IV in her hands.

"Bella, I'm sorry I didn't get there in time. We tried. I-" I didn't know how to go on but her confused look gave me an excuse to stop.

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

I raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were angry with me."

"I'm not." She looked down and appeared interested with the bedside table.

"Oh," I said simply and continued to stare at her face. "Bella, please tell me what's going on in your mind. What's wrong?" I demanded after her silence drove me insane for long enough.

She shook her head but I felt tears ooze down her face. With one hand I grabbed her hand carefully and used the other to gently wipe the tears from her cheeks before pushing slightly against her face so she'd look at me. "Please," I begged in a whisper.

"Why are you doing this?" She questioned after a moment of silence.

I felt my face go blank with incomprehension. "Why wouldn't I be doing this? Do you not remember me?" I asked with a sudden panic in my voice.

She shook her head, no. "Of course I remember you. I just thought…" She trailed off there.

I waited for her to finish but when she didn't I just groaned. "Bella, please finish your sentences. Not reading your mind is driving me insane." I complained.

"I thought you guys wanted to get ride of me." She whispered.

"Oh, Bella," I replied in the same hushed voice. My throat was strained from all the emotion. The tears streamed down her face harder. "Where would you ever get that ridiculous notation?"

"I-I heard you guys. You were talking," She struggled to keep talking through the tears. "You said you had to do something about me and that it was getting out of hand." She finished."

My face froze. She had heard that? Understanding washed through me and I knew my siblings, who were listening on the other side of the door, realized too. We were all in deep trouble- confess or… what?

_Just tell her, Edward. It works out better that way. _ Alice told me.

I exhaled. "Bella, I have something to tell you." I watched her face instantly revert back to its protective shield, carefully washed of any emotion. It was hard to look at.

**_Hey, sorry this chapter was really short but I've been super busy. Chapters probably will not be frequent at all because soccer conditioning is starting for my school and its every day until six then I have homework and then other crap to do. So yeah, chapters... not often. : Sorry._**


	16. Chapter 16

**_Oh my jeebers, I love you all. Thank you so, so much for all the reviews. :D I got to go to a monster truck thing last night (which was amazing) and then come back and have a ton of reviews. Just for your support, I will try to update more for you all. (Although, now I have a personal trainer for soccer ontop of all this and another game on Tuesday) So, just remember- reviews make me update faster!! So, update. Oh, and Bella wasn't huge- heavier then normal, though. Chunky, I guess you could say. But then after a long time of only eating what the Cullens gave her, she lost a lot of weight and became underweight by quite a bit. Did I clear that up for you?_**

EPOV:

She waited patiently as I tried to figure out where to start. "I did something bad." I sighed as her face didn't change. "We spied on you."

Her eyes went wide and her mouth was agape. "You did _what_?"

I nodded. "Last weekend- we wanted to know what was going on with you Bella and since you wouldn't tell us, so we took things into our own hands."

She was furious that much was easy to tell. "How dare you invade my privacy like that, Edward!" She stopped there because she was too angry to speak.

BPOV:

I sat there fuming until I felt tears build up in my eyes. What was going to happen now?

I felt Edward brush my cheeks lightly wiping away my tears. I just turned my head away from him and avoided his hurt expression.

"Please, Bella, we only did this because we were concerned. No one gets hurt that much on their own accord." When I said nothing, he groaned and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, Bella."

"It's alright," I whispered. I didn't have the energy to fight. I felt exhausted suddenly.

He moved closer and kissed my forehead with the lightest pressure. My heart beat raced against my body's will. "Sleep now, Bella. When you get better you're coming to stay at my house- doctors orders."

I felt a small smile tug on my lips as I slipped back into the black unconsciousness.

When I woke up again my whole body felt heavy and stiff, as though I hadn't moved in a really long time. My eyes immediately found Edward, who was sitting by the edge of my bed with his head in his hands.

His head snapped up and a crooked smile broke across his face, taking my breath away. "Bella," He breathed.

I smiled. "Good morning," I took a look around the room and found it to be too dark to be morning. "Or goodnight," I frowned.

Edward frowned with me. He took my hands carefully in his and pulled it until it was resting against his cold cheek. "I love you, Bella." He said with his eyes closed.

I closed mine too. "I love you, too, Edward."

The comfortable silence lasted until I found myself frowning again. My whole body was still covered in plaster like the last time I woke up. That hadn't changed. "Edward?" I questioned.

"Hmm?" He answered as though I'd pulled him from some other thought.

"How long have I been here?"

He frowned and opened his eyes to gauge my reaction. "Close to two weeks."

I gasped. I'd only woken up briefly once in two weeks. I must have been pretty banged up.

"They weren't sure if you were going to live or not." He admitted painfully. I grimaced. "But you're fine. You'll be perfect in no time." He sounded as though he was reassuring himself, not me.

That got me thinking though. "How long am I going to be in this full-body cast?"

He looked over the plaster with a painfully twisted expression. I'm guessing he blamed himself for my stupidity. "Six to seven weeks at the least. You had some already broken bones that needed healing and several very broken bones. One might possibly need surgery because it was shattered and might not heal properly."

I blanched. This was going to be torture. I felt like a freak in this body cast.

"Don't cry," Edward begged. I slowly reached a hand to my face to find a tear leaking down my cheek. I wanted to be perfect and unbreakable like the Cullens. But no, I was stuck in this horribly human condition, broken. At that thought, I cried harder.

Just then Alice bounced in happily. "Bella, I've been waiting forever for you to wake up! Edward hogged you the first time." She glared at him. 

"No," He glared back at him.

"What?" I asked. I hated it when they had their mind conversations and left me out.

"I want Edward to leave. But he won't."

I gave Edward a pleading look. "Please, Edward."

"Yeah, Edward- go get Bella some flowers to put into her new room at our house." Alice agreed.

He glowered at us for double teaming him, but obliged. "I'll do better then that." He smiled suddenly and disappeared through the window.

I shook my head but then turned my attention back to Alice. "What do you need to talk to me about?" I asked. Whenever she sent someone out to do pointless things she had to tell me something she didn't want them to know.

She grinned. "I know what you want."

I tried to make my face appear confused. "I don't know what you're talking about." 

"You want to become one of us." She proved me wrong. She always knew everything.

I sighed. "Yeah, I do."

"Good, I know just how to make it happen. But it's going to take a lot. Edward has… well, issues." I giggled. "He thinks we're eternally damned."

I stopped giggling instantly. "What?"

"You see, he thinks we've lost our souls. So he'd never do that to you. So, you need to convincing him we haven't lost our souls and you need to complain and bug him, a lot."

"But what if he just doesn't want me? Or what if I annoy him so much, he leaves?" I questioned, feeling panicky.

"Bella," Alice started with annoyance. "Did you forget who I am?"

Oh, right- future seer. "Okay, what do I bother him about?"

"About the cast and how you think you're not good enough. Throw in some water works, too." Alice informed with a grin. "Crap, he's fast." She frowned.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Do you promise me we'll go shopping once you feel better?" She winked at me.

I threw in a heavy sigh. "Fine, Alice."

Just then Edward came through the window with a smile on his face. "She's convinced you to go shopping with her. I thought you hated shopping."

I made a face. "I do."

"We'll I'll leave you two be. Oh, and tomorrow morning we're going to re-bandage you into a more flexible cast and then were moving you to our house." She looked at me. "And I'm holding you to that." She smiled and left out the door before I could say anything.

Dang, even when we're pretending she makes me go shopping in reality. Gosh, she could be such a pain sometimes. Talking with Alice was always tiring and ended up in shopping.

"I'm bushed. I'm going to take a nap." I told him. He kissed me lightly on the lips and smiled.

"Alright, sleep well, my love." I shut my eyes and tried to sleep but I felt him trailing his fingers lazily across the limited exposed skin.

"Edward," I hissed and opened my eyes.

"Yes?" He asked and innocently met my eyes- too innocent.

"I'm trying to sleep and you're making it extremely difficult."

He just grinned. "I'm sorry. I've just missed you so much while you've been asleep."

I sighed and knew he was right. I've been sleeping for almost two weeks. "Fine, what do you want to talk about?"

He frowned. "No, I'll stop. You need to sleep."

I shook my head. The boy needed to make up his mind. I closed my eyes again but I was too awake now. Something came to my mind then.

"Have you talked to Jocelyn yet?" I asked him.

"I've been here and she's been at our house."

I pursed my lips. "And she hasn't wondered why." I highly doubted that.

He shook his head. "Our whole family's been here. Well, except for Esme- she's been putting your room together."

"Oh, that makes sense." Jocelyn didn't like me so of course she wouldn't be here.

"I'll tell her as soon as we get home. Nothing is going to keep me away from you while you're healing. I'll be with you every step of the way." He promised and took my hand in his.

I took a sigh and prepared myself to follow out with Alice's plans. "But that's going to take a long time. I'm going to be stuck in this ugly cast for weeks and weeks." I whined.

He just shook his head. "It will fly by soon enough."

"I'll be stuck in this plaster, unable to move. I'll be uncomfortable and ugly for six or more weeks."

He just kissed me. "You'll always be beautiful to me."

He was such a smooth talker. "That just means that I'm never beautiful so nothing could really make it worse."

Edward's jaw dropped. "Never," He declared. "You're the most beautiful women I've ever seen."

I shook my head. "Prove it," I dared him.

He pondered it for a moment. "How?"

"Exactly," I announced and folded my arms across my chest with a huff.

"Bella, honestly, you're being ridiculous." He gently unfolded my arms. There was no resisting. "I love you more then anyone else in the world and you make me feel things I've never felt before and you are the most delectable women I've ever seen. Don't you ever doubt that."

I inwardly let my heart soar at his heartfelt words. "Then why don't you kiss me like you mean it? Honestly, you kiss Jocelyn with more passion then I do. Is it because she's beautiful and perfect and I'm stupid and human?"

"What? No, of course not!" He groaned. "Bella, you don't understand. You're so fragile. I could crush you!"

"Then make me like you! Make me indestructible and perfect!"

Edward chuckled. "So that's what this is about?"

I just ignored him. I wonder if he realized that what I had been saying was every one of my insecurities magnified and vocalized.

"Bella," He coaxed softly. "I will _not_ steal your soul."

"But, Edward-"

He cut me off. "I love you and that's all that matters- not how I kiss you or how you think you look. You are the love of my life and the most beautiful part about my life."

"I'm going to die." I spoke ominously.

Edward instantly panicked. "What? What are you talking about? The doctor said- Carlisle said… Don't be ridiculous, Bella. You're going to be just fine, perfect."

"No," I announced happily now. "I'm going to die. Rot away in the ground with all the other corpses…"

"Bella, stop it." Edward warned, sounding seriously disturbed. He checked my pulse. "You're fine!"

"Die, die, die- I'm going to die." I sang.

"Bella, please!" Edward begged.

"No," I freed my hands from Edward's and pretended to strangle myself. Edward's eyes widened and his hands blurred, they were grabbing mine so fast.

"Please, Bella." He sounded as though he would be crying now. "You're fine."

My eyes softened and instantly felt horrible. "Edward, don't cry. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. But I will die. Someday," I rubbed his back.

His dry sobs stopped after a few seconds and then he looked up at me. "No, you're not going to die."

"You're going to change me?!" I asked excitedly.

"Don't be ridiculous." He gave me a weird look. "Of course not."

"Then how…" I said in a tone that clearly questioned his sanity.

"I'll figure that out eventually."

I just rolled my eyes at him and then closed them, pleased with myself. I could tell I had freaked him out enough that he was considering it at least. "I'm going to bed."

Yeah  
Cause we are broken  
What must we do to restore  
Our innocence  
And oh, the promise we adored  
Give us life again cause we just wanna be whole

**_I don't own anything. Whoot, another chapter although it's mostly dialouge so it's not really long. Today has been a slow day because I woke up about two hours before my soccer game that was at four thirty but we had to be there at four. So, for those two hours I started this and then was forced to clean my room. So, yeah. Enjoy. Sorry about not having songs for the last two or so chapters. I've been lazy. We Are Broken by Paramore._**


	17. Chapter 17

**_Heh, soccer was cancled tonight. Not sure why. But here's a chapter for you. Sweet, right? I know, man. Oh lordy, I'm quite hyper tonight. Dunno why. Oh, and I've officially started a new story. It's not posted yet, but it's about Bella moving away when she was eight and becomes filthy rich because Renee marries a rich Phil. But beacuse of bad behavior Bella has to move to Forks with Charlie. Alice and Bella are still friends but Edward has always been mean to her. And if you don't like preppy-ness and rich people or things like that probably don't read it when I do post it. It'll be after I update my other story (which I don't like a whole lot but will finish it anyways because in my history I have not finished one whole story because I get bored and start a new one. So, I'm determined) Wow, that was long._**

**__**

It was a strange sensation to wake up in a place that wasn't where you last were. My eyes scanned the room but I found no sense of familiarity. The room was extremely large and the sounds of the heart monitor and the plaster around my body were the only medical traces visible. The rest of the room was painted in a pretty dark blue color and there were large open windows. On the other side of the room there was a large bed with gold and brown checkered comforter and some other furniture along with a gold, soft looking couch.

"Good morning, Bella." I heard Edward greet me from the door with a plate of breakfast food.

I smiled warmly at him and his returning grin was breathtaking. "Hello," I said quietly. My brain always had problems remembering why in the world he was even with me in the first place.

"It's lunchtime but since you didn't have breakfast, I wanted to get the pleasure of severing you breakfast in bed." He said when he placed the tray down.

"Why thank you, kind sir." I picked up the fork and dug in. I felt ravished.

"I told her." He said softly with a slightly agonized look in his eyes.

I couldn't deny that it hurt that he looked so upset about breaking things off with her. "If you didn't want to that then you didn't have to."

Shock registered on his face. "What are you talking about?"

"If it makes you sad, you shouldn't do it." I avoided his scrutinizing stare.

His hands lightly brushed my face. "Bella, I feel relieved that I don't have to hide something I love from anyone anymore. I just didn't want to hurt anyone in this. It didn't turn out to well"

I looked up and tried to stifle the hope that was threatening to burst from my chest. "Are you sure that's all?"

He nodded and smiled reassuringly. I threw my arms around him. He stiffened at first but then pulled me as close as he could manage in my bulky cast. I frowned. "I can't wait to get this thing off."

"It is quite bothersome, isn't it?" He speculated the cast and then shrugged. "As long as it makes you better though…"

"You know what would make me heal even faster?" I asked him.

"What?" He asked.

"Changing me," I grinned as I saw his happy expression turn into a glare.

"Bella, be reasonable. Six weeks of healing is nothing compared to an eternity of night."

"No, you be reasonable! Honestly, three days of pain when I'm already in it and then none ever again. And I'll live forever. I won't be breakable. I'll be able to keep up with you guys. I'll look like you guys. Can you not see it?"

He was silent for a moment before looking at me again unhappily. "We're not having this discussion right now. Eat."

I huffed and then began to chew angrily. He can't ignore me forever.

EPOV:

Earlier that morning

I waited nervously for Jocelyn to emerge from our room. I bounced up right away. "Jocelyn, hey, can I talk to you for a moment?"

She gave me a cautious look and then nodded. "What is this about?" She asked as I pulled her right back into our room.

"We need to talk," I sighed. I hated using over clichéd lines like that but how else do you start this.

"Oh, no, I know you're not breaking up with me." She already had an attitude.

I nodded. "Actually, I am." I said quietly.

"You've got to be kidding me! Why?"

I tried to come up with something that wouldn't sound like I was breaking up our long relationship for some girl I'd just met. I wanted to explain to her that I loved Bella more then I could ever love anything that existed.

But before I could finish she demanded in a hysterical voice, "Why?!"

"I'm in love."

"With who?" She asked in a surprisingly painful voice. Her thoughts revealed nothing but the love she's developed for me over the years but kept hidden.

"Bella," I whispered and avoided her eyes. I wasn't ashamed of Bella but Jocelyn was getting very worked up.

"You can't be serious! Over that ugly human girl! She's not like us, Edward!" She yelled now.

"Don't you dare call her ugly. She's beautiful, inside and out- more so then you. And I'll be damned if her not being like us matters."

I hadn't realized I had stood up until Jocelyn flew up to glare at me. The height difference wasn't that much but I knew my glare was more impressive. My hands were balled into fists as were hers. Finally she collapsed down in tears and I caught her before she could hit the ground. Eventually her sobs quieted and she pushed me away and stood up in one motion.

"You'll regret this, Edward Cullen." She hissed before disappearing as she ran out the door.

I instantly went to Bella's room to make sure Jocelyn didn't think about going there. Thankfully her thoughts were already miles away. Alice walked in then. 

"She'll be back." She said solemnly.

I nodded and we stayed silent as we watched Bella.

"Changing her, huh?" I asked.

A small smile played at her lips but I doubted she could really forget the danger that was now looming sometime in the future. "She really wants this you know?"

I nodded again. Of course I knew that. "I can't do that to her."

"Have you ever considered that keeping her like this is worse?" Our gazes rested once more upon Bella. "I mean- look at her. She's in pain, Edward."

"Just six weeks and she'll be better."

Alice shook her head. "It goes deeper then that. I mean she's never been shown love before and is very untrusting. That's how she got herself into this mess any how." She gestured to the cast covering my sleeping beauty.

"Give me time, Alice. I'll show her that I can be faithful and that I'm not going to leave."

"No, that won't work. She's smarter then most humans and is looking out for her future. She knows very well that she is in full capacity to die and you are not. She's going to think that when you won't change her it's because you don't want her around for that long."

I sat there for a moment, thinking that over. "I don't believe you." I stated finally in an almost childlike fashion. My brain was denying the truth of what Alice spoke because I didn't want to hear she was right.

Suddenly different images flooded my mind.

_Bella was sobbing and looked up at me. "Do you love me, Edward?" _

_"Of course I love you, Bella. Why are you saying that?" _

_"If you plan on leaving me human you can't possibly be planning on staying around for long." She explained. _

_"That's not true I-" _

_"Save it," She cut me off angrily through her tears. "I'm going home." She got up off of the couch and left to her house. _

"Oh," I whispered.

Alice got up to leave. "Think about it," She commanded quietly. When she was at the door she called my attention again with a happier note. "Oh, Edward, she'll be up soon and she'll be hungry. So why don't you go make her breakfast."

Sure enough, as soon as I had finished placing the food on the tray I heard Bella stirring upstairs. I ran lithely up the stairs and to her room.

"Good morning, Bella." I greeted

She smiled back and my dead heart fluttered "Hello," She spoke in her ever quiet voice. It seemed to always command the attention of the whole room, no matter how quiet. It was just another reason to pay more attention to her.

"It's lunchtime but since you didn't have breakfast, I wanted to get the pleasure of severing you breakfast in bed." I walked up to her and placed the tray down on her lap.

"Why thank you, kind sir." She immediately picked up the fork and started eating. Alice was right- like always.

"I told her." I announced after she had eaten for a while. I grimaced as I remember how unwell it went.

She looked me over and then her features fell only slightly enough so I'd noticed. But I doubted anyone else would of. She was good at hiding things but I'd grown used to dissecting her expressions to a T. "If you didn't want to that then you didn't have to."

"What are you talking about?" I asked uncomprehendingly.

"If it makes you sad, you shouldn't do it." She looked away from me before she spoke.

I brushed my hands lightly over her face. "Bella, I feel relieved that I don't have to hide something I love from anyone anymore. I just didn't want to hurt anyone in this. It didn't turn out well." I carefully avoided the fact that she was now on Jocelyn's newly formed hit list.

I looked up and tried to stifle the hope that was threatening to burst from my chest. "Are you sure that's all?"

I nodded and smiled reassuringly. She threw her arms around me. I stiffened at first- she smelled so good, even after all this time- but then pulled her as close as I could manage with that bulky cast.

She frowned. "I can't wait to get this thing off."

"It is quite bothersome, isn't it?" I speculated the cast and then shrugged. "As long as it makes you better though…"

"You know what would make me heal even faster?" She asked with a glint in her eyes.

"What?" I asked and tried to understand where that sudden look came from.

"Changing me," She grinned and I felt myself glaring. Way to miss the obvious.

"Bella, be reasonable. Six weeks of healing is nothing compared to an eternity of night."

"No, _you_ be reasonable! Honestly, three days of pain when I'm already in it and then none ever again. And I'll live forever. I won't be breakable. I'll be able to keep up with you guys. I'll look like you guys. Can you not see it?"

I was silent for a moment before looking up again unhappily. "We're not having this discussion right now. Eat."

She glared at me before turning to her food and then not looking up again the rest of the time.

The truth was I could picture it. I could picture it perfectly. Bella would be by my side, my soul mate for the rest of existence. Our family would be one hundred percent complete and we'd all live together in bliss- enjoying each others company and even the not fun parts of this life. I could see each individual frame of it in my mind clearly and I wanted it. Badly. But to take what I wanted would be selfish- to steal Bella's soul so I could be happy.

I leaned in and kissed her cheeks. An involuntary smile spread across her face. "I love you, my darling. I'm sorry for upsetting you."

She smiled a little back and kissed me on lips. A sensation that always left me tingling all over. "It's alright. But this is not over. I won't give up until I get what I want."

I sighed. She didn't know how close she was to getting what she wanted. All I needed was one more good reason.

I close my eyes and brace myself.  
I only notice your face.  
No matter what you're gonna break my shell  
No matter what you're gonna break my shell  
I'm done healing!  
I'm done healing.

**_Not long. Sorry. I love you all, so don't kill me. The song doesn't fit a whole lot but I love it. So we're going to roll with my song. Okay? Okay. I'm Sorry by Flyleaf._**


	18. Chapter 18

BPOV:

When I woke up from a small nap I wasn't alone. There was a very hyper Alice sitting impatiently on the edge of her chair and staring at me. 

"Thank goodness you're finally awake!" She practically yelled. "I thought I was going to go crazy waiting for you!"

"It's not my fault I'm some stupid human who needs to sleep." I muttered.

She grinned. "You won't be for long."

"What do you mean?" I questioned, trying to stop my excitement from creeping in on me before it got out of hand.

"You've practically got him. But there's something else you have to do." She frowned then.

"What?" I asked, unable to contain my enthusiasm now.

"Well, I don't know." She stated. "He doesn't know and you don't know and I don't know, therefore I can't see it. But as soon as he or I or you figure it out, I'll be able to see whatever it is and we can do whatever it is. For now, you just need to keep doing whatever it is you're doing. Got it?" She managed to say in a matter of seconds and all in one breath.

All I managed to respond with a very confused "Huh?"

"Ugh," She groaned and shook her head.

I sat there for a moment with my eyes squinted as I tried to run through what she said again in my head. I couldn't even recall all of it. Instead I just gasped out a flabbergasted "What?!"

She measured me for a moment before responding. "Honestly, Bella you're a tad slow."

"I'm not slow! I doubt anyone could have understood your babbling. You're crazy, you know that?" I retorted with a frown. I was by no means slow.

"Am not." She pouted.

"Do you want to repeat it slower for me, Alice, so that my tiny human brain can comprehend your crazy vampire slew of words?" I asked.

She glowered at me but did as I asked. "Alright, see the thing is that neither you, I, nor Edward knows what the final thing we need to get him to change you. And until we find out what that thing is you're just going to have to keep on doing what you're doing now. And as soon as I find out what it is, I'll let you know." She explained slowly.

"You know, you could have just said that the first time." I scolded her.

She grinned at me. "But it's a whole lot more fun to make you feel slow and confused."

"I resent that." I told her. She giggled at me and I shook my head at my crazy vampire friend- which, when you say it like that, makes me sound a whole lot more crazy for just being friends with a vampire- and laughed along with her.

EPOV:

We were all watching TV downstairs while Bella was sleeping. It wasn't for a while that I noticed Alice was missing. I listened closely to hear the sounds of Bella and Alice talking.

That darn Alice, she must have snuck off to do more secret planning with Bella. I quietly followed them up the stairs but now I only heard giggling.

"You know, Edward, it's quite difficult to sneak up on psychic? Besides, we're done talking. You can have your plastered beloved back." Alice lightly sprung off her chair and went quickly out of the room.

Bella giggled and shook her head and my crazy sister. My eyes were instantly drawn to her and the sound of her beautiful laughter. She should laugh more often.

"Hello," She breathed.

"Morning," I moved to sit delicately beside her on the bed. I took her hand gently and pressed a kiss to it. That was about all I could do while this ridiculous cast was on it.

"It'd be a lot easier to kiss me or hold me if I wasn't all wrapped up." Bella voiced my thoughts exactly.

I frowned. She was right. She's always right. And I missed her warmth. The feeling of her warm body against mine was a very hard thing to feel while her warmth was incased in a cast and kept away from me.

"What do you want to do today?" I asked her instead of responding to her very accurate statement.

"Well, let's see... because there's so much I can do while I'm in a cast." She huffed. "I could go dancing or go swimming or possibly even take a nice long stroll." She continued angrily.

"I'm sorry," I hung my head. I didn't realize that she was this unhappy.

"No!" She screamed. My head snapped up. Bella hardly ever raised her quiet voice but she never yelled. "You're not sorry because if you were sorry you'd change me. If you truly loved me you'd want this for me because you'd want for me to be happy and you'd know that this would make me happy. But I guess you don't care for me or my happiness, do you?"

She thrashed angrily against the cast but she was held in place by it and eventually gave up trying and began to sob. It was a rather pitiful thing to watch. When I put my hand against her cheek she moved away from me. It pained me but I knew I deserved it.

Eventually she fell back into a restless sleep, which couldn't be good her body in the cast.

"Edward?" Alice called softly from the door.

"Yes?" I answered dejectedly.

"You're going to have to make a decision." She said.

I looked up at her. "Why does this have to be my decision?" I complained. Stealing her soul and making her happy versus keeping her human and in a cast but with her soul safely intact but she might possibly hate me- That is not any easy thing to decide and either option had a downside.

"The only reason it's your decision is because you're the only one so obstinate about keeping her human. If it were up to any of us, we'd change her in a heartbeat. Can't you see that she needs this? Edward, she's never had anything close to a family and she needs to know that we're here for her with some sort of permanency and to know that we aren't just faking it. After her thinking that we don't care for her and then almost getting herself killed, we need to be careful. I don't think you realize how thin of water we're treading on here. This is a make or break decision. If you don't change her I fear the results might be hazardous to Bella's future." Alice spoke solemnly but with urgency.

I tried to peek into her mind to see what she was talking about but she was keeping me out.

"I won't show you because I want you to make this decision on your own. But I just thought that I'd warn you what might happen if you decide not to. She'll wake up in about an hour and she'll want an answer so you better have one."

I nodded.

"Well I'll leave you be." She smiled at me slightly and the left me to my thoughts.

To keep my beautiful Bella forever or to leave her to her humanity?

Hear it, I'm screaming it  
You're heeding to it now  
Hear it, I'm screaming it  
You tremble at the sound

**_Oh gosh, I have had some serious writers block here man and it shows.Also I've been really busy because I had the flu and I missed a ton of school and soccer (btw I made the team. Yay me!) But thankfully I feel better and have a whole day to sit and so nothing but write since I'm home alone. So I was just kind of writting to try and get over it and I did in the end so I thought I'd just post this little tidbit of a chapter to give you guys a little something to read. Sorry if it's really weird. Which, in my opinion, it is. I'm So Sick by Flyleaf._**

**_Reviews make me update faster :) I love you all!_**


	19. Chapter 19

**_Hey guys, here's another chapter. Yay!_**

BPOV:

I opened my eyes slowly. Edward was pacing nervously at the end of my bed.

I instantly felt horrible. I should be grateful Edward was wasting even one moment of his spectacular self on someone like me and suck it up. So I wasn't going to live forever with him… I could live… maybe. Maybe I'll just cease to exist once he leaves, take myself out of the picture. I don't have much else to look for outside of Edward and no one to live for. No one would miss me, so why not? Enjoy the time I have and end myself when the good times end. There was a good foolproof plan.

"I'm sorry," I announced lamely and hung my head.

Such shameful things I've been doing- to aggravate a generous god. You shouldn't test the patience of someone so beautiful, I reminded myself. After all, what reason does he have for staying anyway? To annoy him might just make him forget the unseen reason he loves me in the first place. And that would be such an awful thing.

He immediately stopped pacing and looked up. "What did you say?" He questioned although I knew he probably heard me better then I heard myself.

"I'm sorry, Edward. I'm being selfish. If you don't want to change me then don't." I took a shuddering breath. "I'll live."

He was by my side in an instant, cupping my face in his hands. His eyes searched my face and he finally sighed. "You're sad." He whispered. "Angels shouldn't be so sad."

I closed my eyes to stop the tears. He had it all wrong. Can't he see that I'm no angel… that he's far more angelic then I'll ever be?

"Edward I don't want you to be angry with me." I choked. My hand rose hesitantly to his face and I pressed my palm on his cheek. He leaned into my touch and a small smile played at my lips. At least I have him for now. "This is all I need. As long as you're here, I'll be happy. Just stay with me."

I felt a small tear roll down my left cheek. I opened my eyes slowly to see Edward watching me with the most painful expression on his face. "What's wrong?" I asked. What have I done now?

"I'm always making you unhappy, Bella. I want you to be happy. I'll do whatever you want. Just say it. I'm willing to do _anything_." He vowed.

"You won't like it." I warned quietly.

"I don't care. I'm doing everything wrong." He sat quietly before speaking again. "I always thought I was right." He mused with a chuckle. "Well, before I met you at least, I was. Now everything I seem to do just makes you unhappy."

I shook my head at him. He was ridiculous. "Can't you see that you're the only thing that can possibly make me happy? Without you, I die."

He nodded. "I know how you feel." I closed my eyes again and we sat in silence. "Please, Bella, I want to make you happy."

"And I want you happy. If that means I stay like this," I gestured to my human form. "Then so be it."

He frowned. "Please stop trying to please me and tell me exactly what you want." He demanded with little patience.

Why is it that he decides to give in right when I do? This is ridiculous. "Exactly?" I repeated.

"Yes, every little thing you want, say it and it will be done. Please, Bella. Seeing you happy will make me happy.

I considered it for a moment. What was the harm in telling him? Scaring him away? I blanched. "I don't know, Edward. Some of the things might upset you." I warned.

"Bella," He was impatient. His eyes eagerly searched my face, the rest of his expression a calm façade.

"Okay," I surrendered and took a deep breath, preparing both him and myself. "I want you to change me. And then I want to marry you. And we can spend the rest of forever together happily- going to school, traveling the world, working, cuddling, loving- everything, Edward. I want all of forever. But I won't take one second of it without you in it." I took another breath to calm myself. "That's what I'm saying, Edward. All that stuff, all of it- I can live without." Hardly,I added in my head. "But _you_ I can't live without. That's all I truly want- you. Just don't leave." A tear fell from my eye. "Anything but that, Edward." I practically begged.

EPOV:

I listened carefully to Bella's heartbreaking confession. I could see the sacrifice behind her words. She could live without being like my family and me, but not happily.

But when she cried out for me to stay, that broke my heart.

"I won't ever, _ever_ leave you." I whispered with all the passion I possessed. I pressed my palms lightly to her face. She leaned against my hands as she cried with her eyes closed.

"I'll do it," I informed her. "By God, I'll do it."

I didn't miss the carefully hopeful expression on her face. "Really?"

I nodded. "Anything for you." I kissed her forehead.

"Don't just do it for me, Edward- I don't want you to make yourself unhappy in making me happy." By the look in her eyes, I knew she really meant it.

"I want this too, Bella. I don't think you understand why I don't want this."

"Why?" She asked immediately.

I chuckled at her. "Because I think we've lost our souls. I could never steal yours. That would be, single-handedly, the most selfish thing I've ever done in my life. And after all the things I've done, this would be by far the worst. It's not like I'm making it heaven at any rate though."

"Edward," She breathed sadly. "You can't possibly think that you don't have a soul. You and your family have to be the kindest people I've ever met. And if Carlisle doesn't make it to heaven, no one will. How can you think that way? People who don't have souls can't love." 

I searched her face ardently. Her eyes blazed with the intensity of her feelings on this subject. I sighed. When she put it that way, it was so easy to agree.

She smiled at my defeat. "But other then that, do you really want this? Do you really want me around for that long?" She attempted to joke but I could see the true worry behind it all.

I ruffled her hair. "Of course, my beautiful Bella- I've been dreaming about that for a while now. I just needed some to really contradict me, convince me I'm being stubborn."

She beamed with true happiness. "That's what I'm here for."

I kissed her hard on the mouth. "I love you." I whispered.

"Right back at ya," She whispered and looked relaxed for the very first time in a long time.

The next few days flowed relatively easily. Alice had been entertaining Bella as I went through the precautions of changing someone.

" Carlisle," I called nervously as I waited outside of Bella's room.

He was there in an instant. "What's wrong?" He asked, concerned.

"I don't think I can do this." I confessed. My stomach felt in knots and like I was about to be sick. "Can vampires throw up? Oh God, I can't see! Carlisle, I'm blind!" I screamed.

"Edward," Carlisle addressed me in a tone that questioned my sanity. "Your eyes are _closed_."

I opened my eyes slowly and smiled sheepishly. "Heh, oh…"

He shook his head. "You need to calm down. Take a deep breath." I did as I was told. "Good, now- you've been preparing for this for three days and all you have to do is go in there and take the five bites I showed you. I'll be there in case you need me or you need restraining. Bella is already asleep from the morphine we gave her as a precaution and you've said your goodbyes to her humanity. This shall all go over smoothly and we'll be moving as soon as the transformation is complete."

"Thanks." I clapped him on the shoulder. All it took was a good restating to put it all into prospective. So much was at stake- my lover's life- and if I didn't calm down things could go very wrong.

I opened the door and Carlisle followed me in. He sat quietly in the corner as I slowly approached Bella. She was sleeping soundless, still wrapped in cast. I guess that would help so she couldn't hurt herself and the bones would form properly during the transformation since they're still broken.

"Oh God," I whispered as I kneeled beside the bed. "This is it." I whispered at her neck. I drew back and took a look at her face, rememorizing everything for the thousandth time. I placed a quick kiss on her warm lips for the last time. "I love you." I told her as I moved back down to her neck.

I placed five bites strategically- one at the neck, each wrist, and each ankle. Her blood was the sweetest thing I'd ever tasted- like freesia. I took a bit more then I had on the other bites on the last one.

"Edward," Carlisle put a hand on my shoulder. I growled at him. His pressure increased until it was almost painful.

I pulled away, ashamed. How could I even attempt to drink from her- no matter how delicious she tasted? I watched Bella helplessly as she began to thrash around, clawing at the bite marks as best she could.

"You did good, son." Carlisle sounded proud.

I was disgusted with myself. How could he think stealing Bella's soul was a good thing? How could you consider what I did good?

It progressed hourly until it was so unbearable Jasper had to leave the house. That was after the first hour and a half. She was screaming like a banshee and I could hardly bare to watch her pain filled expression, knowing I was the one to cause it.

I only stayed to comfort her as best I could. She seemed to like having my hands against her since they were very cool and she seemed calmer when I whispered to her.

After the first day her attempts to thrash against the casts died and she fell into a restless and twitchy sleep. It looked like she was being electrocuted or something of that degree of pain.

She woke again at around five thirty this morning and her screams were worse then before. Occasionally she cried out my name, begging for me to end the pain. I just watched and held her hand.

"She seems to be right on time." Carlisle noted as he compared her changes to the others in his head. "The morphine seems to have worked but it's out of her system now and she'll go through just as painful a transformation as the others for now on."

"Well, why can't you just give her more?" I asked impatiently.

"She's moving too much. And if I did get the needle in properly the amount of medication needed to dull the pain significantly would probably stop her heart all together. So unless you plan on killing her before it's over I'd suggest you let it run it's course." Carlisle retorted with the same agitation. We were all impatient for this to end.

APOV:

I gave Jasper a quick hug and then went in to check on Bella. There was still another four hours until her transformation ended. I'd been checking in on her every five hours or so to see how she was doing.

Rosalie was sitting in the corner with a black expression as Emmett stroked her hair as he stood beside her with his eyes transfixed on the screaming Bella. Carlisle was attempting to check her pulse since he couldn't hear it over the screaming and Esme was changing the sheets beneath Bella. Edward watched from the edge of her bed where he sat with a twisted expression on his face. It was hard scene to watch, knowing it was my sister going through the pain and my family and I helpless as to lessening the pain.

I helped to cut the cast of Bella in the last hour. The bones were healed underneath her alabaster skin that was character of our kind. She was finally done. There was no need to be careful because it was highly unlikely that we'd end up cutting skin as durable as hers.

Edward looked significantly happier as he looked at the clock. My visions showed that she'd wake up at around six and it was now five forty five. Fifteen minutes.

**_Erm, sorry that the description of the transformation was kinda short and not so good. And I didn't want to have to write it all out in Bella's point of veiw cause it would mostly be complaining about how she feels like she's on fire. But I don't usually do these nor do I like them. Therefore, they aren't good. But hey, I had to do it so don't be mean- just ideas on how to make the next one better (those would be most appreciated!). The next chapter is already in progress. (Feel free to do a happy dance.) But, sadly, there is not a whole lot more to the story. Or is there? Mwahaha. Jk, I don't even know myself buuuuuut I'll keep you guys updated._**

REVIEW (no matter how crappy the change was) or I'll make you wait long for the next chapter. (which is better than this one!) :p

**_Oh and I almost forgot- I OWN NOTHING! Tear_**

**_I Caught Fire by The Used. I thought it was ironic. XD _**

**_Hm, this was a long authors note. I have a tone of energy today and no homework (except a test but I got a 100 and a 92 on the quiz and that was in math! YAY ME! So I'm not studying. But it's not like I really do that anyways. Especially for math. Yuck. I'm pretty sure I've only actually sat down and studied twice this semester.) Wow... I'm really A.D.D. Okay, I think I'm done. _**

**_...Yup, I'm done._**


	20. Chapter 20

**_Oh my gosh! So I was checking out the movie status for Twilight and the guy that plays Edward is so not pretty! And it's depressing. I definitely think Chase Crawford is much more beautiful and should be Edward, or Gaspard Ulliel. (however you spell it.) I am depressed. :(_**

BPOV:

I opened my eyes slowly. I couldn't remember much. Had I been on fire? I must have been. It hurt a lot.

It felt like I was looking at the world through a filter. Everything looked so much clearer and finer. I could see the dust in the air and the dirt on the floor, every small detail was there. It was much like when you compared looking underwater with goggles to without goggles. The clarity was indescribable.

"Bella?" A very fine voice indeed called my name rather loudly. Now that I thought about it… everything was loud. I could hear creatures outside as if they were in this very room.

I turned to the voice and blinked slowly. He was beautiful. His bronze hair and chiseled features with eyes that made me melt.

I knew that face. I grinned. "Edward," I breathed happily.

He flew over to me and wrapped me in a hug that should have crushed my bones. Yet it didn't. What was going on?

"Do you remember what happened?" He asked urgently, pulling away to put his hands on my shoulders and stare into my eyes.

I stilled for a moment. "Did it all really happen then?" I asked, mystified. Surely, I must be dreaming. There was no way Edward would have really changed me. So far this has been a very substantial dream.

"Yes," He sounded unhappy. Awake or not, Edward should be happy.

"So I'm really… I'm really... a… a…" I tried to play along with the dream, but it was hard to wrap my mind around, even asleep.

"Yes, you're a vampire." He spoke slowly.

"Wow," I breathed. I pulled my hands up slowly to admire the way they sparkled with the small amount of light leaking in through the window, just like the rest of the Cullen family. I smiled.

"Do you want to see what you look like?" Alice asked. 

I shrugged. Why not? She took me to the mirror and I gasped.

There was no way that girl in the mirror could be me, could it? She had silky hair that had a red gloss to the brown color that was remarkable and horrific red eyes with deadly pale skin with a perfect complexion and a lean body that was almost five seven. Her features were prominent and perfectly angular and her eyelashes were long. She was gorgeous.

"Is that really me?" I questioned breathlessly.

"Yep," Alice vouched, popping the 'P' happily.

"Oh my God," I still wasn't over it. This girl looked like she could stand next to Edward and belong there- not having people wonder what the heck she is doing there.

"You've always been beautiful to me, my beautiful Bella." Edward whispered into my ear.

I turned around and wrapped my arms around his neck, planting little kisses on him as I went. Even if this was a dream, it was a _very_ good dream. "I love you, Edward." I looked up at him to see him smiling sadly. "Don't be sad. I still have my soul. I'm still me- just Bella."

He shook his head. "I love you." He planted a little kiss on my forehead. I wasn't having that. I grabbed his face in my hands- which was a lot less far away and with more force then I'd ever hand before, I might add- and kissed him. I took him a few seconds before he responded by wrapping his arms around my back and pulling me to him tightly. Our lips moved against each others in a perfect rhythm.

Just when I was about to part my lips a cough stopped us, followed by Emmett's snickering. "I don't mean to interrupt, but there are some very important matters to be dealt with. Then you may go on as you were."

I beamed when I realized I wasn't blushing. That's right- I, Isabella Swan, did not blush. Edward frowned. "I'll miss that blush."

I let myself fall into a small depression. Would he still like me, now that I'm so different? Will he not like me because I can walk without tripping, I won't blush, and I'm not warm? Or will they all just leave. I felt my face fall and I wrapped my arms protectively around my torso so I wouldn't begin to hyperventilate. Even in a dream this hurts like hell.

EPOV:

I watched Bella closely after I made that comment. I could see it affected her as her face grew sad and eventually she looked like someone just shot her puppy and she wrapped her arms around herself.

I placed a reassuring arm around her shoulders but she didn't even look at me. She continued to look like she was going into a sad shock. I tried shaking her shoulders to get her to look at me but it still wasn't working.

I looked up at Alice. _What's wrong with her?_ I mouthed.

_I don't know! I can't see her future anymore at all. And Jasper can't feel her emotions. Something's wrong, Edward. _She thought.

My eyes were wide. I looked back at Bella to see her looking up at me with that same face except now it was slightly curious. "It's nothing, Bella."

When we were all seated in the living room, Carlisle called us to order. "Alright, there is one main thing that we should have already had to deal with, but haven't. Bella, are you thirsty at all?"

I blinked. Oh, I'd completely forgotten about that. She seemed to have the same look as me. "I… I… No…" She seemed to be swallowing and trying to truly see if she was thirsty.

"Well, that's certainly interesting. But although you aren't thirsty, you will have to feed every once in a while so you keep your strength up." Bella nodded. "And you'll also have to try this out with humans." Bella looked scared. Carlisle noted that and continued. "Don't worry. We'll all be there to restrain you if it's not the same thing for humans." Bella nodded doubtfully.

"And there's something else." Alice spoke up. We all turned our attention to her. "None of our powers work on Bella anymore- well, Edward's never did in the first place."

"Really?" Carlisle inquired curiously.

Alice nodded. "It's like she isn't even there. Her future… it's not gone… it's as if it was never there in the first place, as if she isn't here, she doesn't exist."

"It's the same thing with her emotions." Jasper added. "No matter what her face expressed she was feeling, there wasn't anything coming off of her- like she wasn't there."

Carlisle looked thoughtful. He clapped happily. "Well, I guess we have your power, there Bella. We'll have to wait until we encounter more vampires with significant powers to test it though."

She was looking at the ground as she nodded. I didn't look away as I watched her face. Her expressions only changed every once in a while as she winced or her frown deepened.

"Come on, Bella. Let's go to my room." I stuck out my hand and she took it as we went up the stairs at her own slow pace.

She sat down cross-legged at the head of my bed. I saw down in front of her but she wouldn't look at me.

"Speak to me." I begged after a moment. "Please, Bella, tell me what's wrong."

"Do you still love me?" She asked sadly to the bed. "Now that I'm not warm or blushing or tripping all the time?"

I grabbed her face in my hands and forced her to look at me. "Of course I still love you! What kind of question is that? You're still Bella. You'll always be my beloved."

Her expression softened only slightly. "But you looked so upset that I couldn't blush. What if you don't like me any more because of that?"

"I will always love you, no matter what." I vowed.

She didn't say anything and I hear the doubt in her silence. "Always," I reinstated. I pressed my lips to hers softly and she immediately threw herself into the kiss. I slid my arms down to her hips and pulled closer. Her hands knotted in my hair as her lips moved quickly against mine. I parted my lips and she did the same.

The door banged open suddenly, leaving Emmett standing in the doorway. Bella was instantly on the other side of the bed in her embarrassment. "Well, I can see you're feeling better." He said with a smirk.

I growled at him and threw a pillow at his head, which he easily dodged. "What do you want?"

"I just thought I'd let you guys know that the rest of us are leaving. Alice, Jasper and Esme are going to get boxes to start packing the house and then the rest of us are going to go kill Bella." He beamed at her scared expression.

"He means they're going to go fabricate your death, sweetheart." I explained in her ear.

Bella shuddered and nodded. "Have fun with that." She smiled at Emmett. I was glad to see she was truly smiling.

"Don't you guys do anything I wouldn't do!" Emmett winked and left.

I rolled my eyes at my brother. "He's so immature."

"I think it's funny. Life wouldn't be fun without stupid people to make the rest of us laugh."

"I heard that!" Emmett yelled from outside.

Bella giggled and then sighed as she moved closer to me and leaned her head against my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her tight to me. "I love you."

"I love you, too." She whispered. I leaned back, pulling Bella down with me until we were laying down, her head still on my chest. We laid in silence as she traced patterns on my abdomen, causing me to shiver slightly. "I really hope this isn't a dream." She announced wishfully.

"What are you talking about? You're definitely awake, Bella. Vampires can't sleep."

She sighed. "Well that's because I'm not really a vampire, I'm dreaming after all. I'm probably really still in a cast, sleeping, while you're sitting beside me, waiting for me to wake up." She sighed. "It doesn't matter though, I'll take it."

I shook my head at my absurd love. "You're ridiculous."

"Prove I'm awake." She challenged, a smile lighting up her face

"Yes, ma'am," I grinned as I sat up with Bella in my lap. I placed a hand on her cheek and stared into her eyes. The playful atmosphere was replaced with a love filled one- her love for me clearly reflected in her eyes. I placed my forehead against hers and closed my eyes. My hand trailed from her cheek to her neck. I moved my head to kiss down her jaw line and finally to her lips. "I love you, Bella- so much." I whispered against her lips.

"I love you, Edward Cullen." She whispered back before finally crashing her lips against mine in an intense lip lock that lasted for a while before she finally pulled away, gasping for unneeded air. "Okay, I believe that I'm awake."

I mock frowned. "Darn, I was so hoping I'd have to kiss you like that again."

She closed her eyes and leaned against the bed. "Actually, I think I may be sleeping. I should really be woken up." She spoke with her eyes closed peacefully.

I crawled onto her and grinned evilly. "Wakey, wakey!" I cried as I tickled her sides mercilessly.

She started thrashing around wildly and ended up shoving me off of her and onto the floor with her new strength. "Oops!" She instantly flew to my side and reached out a hand to help me up.

I pulled her down and wrapped my arms around her tightly, although she could probably still get out if she wanted. "I'll never let you go." I informed playfully while still being completely serious.

She picked up on the serious note and she pulled up one of the sides of her mouth in a loving smile. "Good or I'd have to kill you."

"Oh you would, would you?" I raised an eyebrow at her incredulously and she looked angry.

"So you don't think I could kill you, huh?" She pouted and I couldn't resist.

I pressed my lips to her own very plump, kissable pair of lips. She pulled away, shaking her head. "I couldn't resist, love. You're too tempting for your own good."

"Come on. Let's get off of the floor." She suggested and I let her help me up this time.

We sat in silence for a while before something came to my mind. "Would you like to try out your speed?" I inquired.

She looked hesitant. "Uhm…"

"I'll be by your side the whole time, holding your hand." I took her hand for emphasis.

She smiled and nodded. "Alright, let's do it!"

I took her outside and once we stopped she looked terrified. "What is it?" I asked.

"I don't know. I mean… what do we do? How do you teach someone to run anyways?" She asked.

"Well… I guess we just start running and see what happens." I suggested with a shrug.

Her eyes were wide but she agreed. We took off running together, only to find that I was struggling to keep up with her. "Look's like there's a new fastest Cullen." She beamed.

I growled at her and pounced, tackling her to the ground. "Edward!" She shrieked.

"Yes, my love?" I asked while smiling from on top of her as if I wasn't sitting on her.

She glared at me and my smirk grew more pronounced. "You're lucky you're so adorable." She told me before smiling at me.

"Yes, I guess that would be a very good thing." I agreed with a wink.

All the sudden I found myself on my back with a grinning Bella on top of me. "What? How?"

She giggled. "You need to pay more attention, Eddie!" I growled at her but she had already taken off in the direction of the house.

I tried catching up with her but she was too far ahead of me and faster then me. She was already in the house sitting in the kitchen with Esme, Alice and Jasper as they packed up the living room in their boxes. It was mostly just the sentimental items that were being packed since the rest could be repurchased.

They laughed at me as I came in. "So, Edward, Bella's faster then you, huh?" Alice asked.

"Yes, sister dearest, she is. But that now makes you third." I pointed out as she frowned. I smiled at my small victory. "Do you guys want Bella and me to go start packing up the bedrooms?"

Esme nodded. "Would you please? We don't have much time to get out of her."

I nodded and took Bella up to my room to start packing up my CD collection. I couldn't wait until she saw our newest house and our room in it. It would be spectacular.

BPOV:

Once the packing was finished in the bedrooms we joined the others downstairs as they finished packing up the rest of it. Emmett, Rosalie, and Carlisle were back from 'killing me' and were loading boxes into the van. The whole process of packing had taken all but an hour with vampire speed.

Soon we were all off. Esme and Carlisle in the moving van and the rest of us took one car each. I had to admit it was hard to be away from Edward but the car ride alone gave me time to gather my thoughts- something I hadn't had a chance to do in a while.

It was then that it really hit me. I was a vampire! I didn't have to worry about anything anymore- not Charlie, not _anything_! I could go to school thousands of times and become smarter then the teachers themselves and learn every language I wanted, visit anyplace I wanted- the possibilities were endless when you lived forever. And all of it would be with my beloved Edward by my side. The future seemed perfect without any care in the world.

It took us a total of four hours to get all the way to Alaska and to our new home. This was it. This was forever.

_Open arms to reach my hands  
I'm afraid I realized  
I'm afraid you're gonna leave this place_

_It was never my dream  
To be with you  
No. Never been my dream  
It's meant to be_

**_Yay me! Another chapter for you guys. Don't worry! Don't panic! It is not the last. I'm not quite ready to give up this story just yet. So be ready for another one sometime soon. I doubt there will be two more chapters, but you can count on one. Sad, I know..._**

**_So guess what? My parents can't drive me to my soccer practice tonight so they are making me walk. How harsh is that? Doing exercise to get to my exercise. But I didn't have school today! Or yesterday! Whoot! Wait... it is tuesday, right? I'm so freaking bad with dates. Seriously... on my aniversary my boyfriend was like "guess what today is?" and I was like "Wednesday?" And he was like "Uhm..." I swear I totally had no idea what the date was, therefore it was NOT my fault. And then I felt stupid and then I laughed at the cituation. I mean, isn't it the boys job to forget the anniversay and have to be reminded- not the girl? Oh well... made me laugh. _**

**_Lastnight's Goodbye by Hopes Die Last. And for some reason the center button doesn't want to work so... It's not centered. BLAH! it bothers me! _**

**_I OWN NOTHING! _**

**_Review! Review! I want lots of reviews for these last few chapters. Porfavor. :)_**


	21. Chapter 21

EPOV:

I watched Bella step out of the car with a happily awed expression on her face. I instantly ran up to her and wrapped her in a hug from behind. "I missed you," I breathed into her neck as I planted butterfly kisses across her skin.

She giggled a little and then let out a sigh. "It's perfect. You're perfect. Everything is… perfect."

I beamed, happy to her happy. "I love you, Bella."

"I love you, too." She grabbed my hand in hers and tugged me. "Come on. Let's go see the house!" She took off into the house only to stop short again. "Good Lord, is it big enough?!" She cried.

I chuckled at her response. I couldn't wait until she sees some of our other houses. We had an actual restored mansion in the countryside in Ireland.

"Come on, love." I tugged her gently until she finally budged. I watched her face carefully and studied her reactions as she looked around the vastness of the house. So far, everything seemed good.

"Do you think that for just one second you guys could… I don't know… not be so freaking perfect?" She questioned sarcastically as she flopped on our bed after we'd finished unpacking.

"Bella, honestly, if any one is perfect in this room, it's you." I told her as I wrapped my arms around her from behind.

She turned in my arms to face me and rested her hands against my chest. She looked about ready to correct me but then her features softened and she just stared at me.

I kissed her on the nose and rested my forehead against hers. "Have I mentioned that I love you?"

She smiled and pressed her lips lightly to mine and pulled away with her eyelids half shut and biting her lower lip. "I think you might have mentioned it."

I cupped my hand around her neck and pulled her in for a sweet, slow kiss. Her arms wrapped around my neck as she deepened the kiss. I pushed her up against the wall, feeling the need to feel her on every inch of my skin. She let out a soft noise and pushed herself against me harder.

"Hey!" Emmett called as he slammed the door open. "Oh… I can see I was interrupting something. I'll just go…" He slowly backed out of the door.

"No," I sighed. "You might as well just stay." The moment was ruined anyways.

"Alright!" He happily agreed and found himself flopped on my bed in a flash. He grinned at me. "We were thinking about playing some baseball. Are you two game? Or do you two have a little one on one game of your own planned?" He winked.

If I could I would have been blushing, Bella too by the looks of it. "Shut up, Emmett! And yes, we'll play."

Bella gulped as we sat on the bed next to Emmett. "We will?"

"Of course, baseball's one of my favorite sports. It's the All-American pastime!"

"But, Edward," She drew out my name in a whiney voice. "You know I can't play sports!"

"Silly Bella, you have vampire skills now. I'm sure you've noticed your tripping frequency has gone down to almost nothing."

She nodded, probably thinking about the when we'd stopped briefly for gas and as she was getting out the car her foot got caught in a bag and she fell out of the car and flat on her face. That was an interesting site to see.

"Yeah, come on, Bells! There aren't any bags on a baseball field!" Emmett laughed.

She glowered at him. "You know what? I think I'll just stay here and read tonight. I haven't gotten a chance to read Wuthering Heights in a while."

I frowned. I was looking forward to playing baseball tonight.

Bella noticed my frown. "Don't worry. I won't be bored. I love that book."

My eyes widened. Was she telling me I could go? Or what?

"I'll be fine." She reassured lightly.

"Are you sure, Bella? I'd gladly stay home." I offered.

"You little love birds make me sick!" Emmett gagged.

Bella glared at him. "Yeah, of course- I think I'll wait a little longer and get used to things before I engage in a sport of any kind. You, on the other hand, love that game. Go ahead. I can handle myself."

I nodded unsurely. She smiled at me and leaned in to kiss my forehead. "Go ahead." She whispered just as a roll of thunder echoed in the distance.

"Come on," Emmett whined as he edged towards the door. "It's starting soon!"

I sighed and got off the bed. I gave Bella a lingering kiss on the lips. "Be safe." I breathed as I closed the door. 'I love you,' she mouthed as I took one last look at her.

It felt oddly wrong leaving her. Something was off. Maybe I was just being paranoid with the storm and Bella being a new vampire and everything. I'm sure everything will be fine.

BPOV:

I pulled out my copy of the book and read distractedly. My thoughts kept drifting as I stared out in the storm playing out before my eyes. I watched as lightening cracked in the black sky, lightening up and producing a loud round of thunder that shook the earth. The rain slashed against the large windows of the room. I found it peaceful, somehow- the torrent of the storm making my own life feel less chaotic.

Although everything had settled down, there were still missing parts. Like my father and Jocelyn- they were both two unresolved problems. I couldn't deny I missed my father- he was after all my own flesh and blood- and the thought of Jocelyn still out there terrified me.

And like something out of the movies, I heard a creak in the floorboards down the hall. My head whipped to the side as my ears strained to hear whatever was moving. It had stopped.

My dead heart was constricting in my chest as I stood frozen in my seat. I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed to God that the noise was of my own imagination.

"Hello," A seductive voice purred into my ear.

(A/N: I almost stopped it there but that would've been cruel! (And short) So, you better thank me!

I let out a sigh of relief. "Edward."

He chuckled. "Yes, love?"

"You scared me!" I cried. "I thought you were Jocelyn or something."

"Don't be ridiculous. I'd never let her get to you, my love." He pulled me up from the chair and wrapped me in a tight embrace. "I must admit, something did feel off tonight- so I came back."

I smiled. "I felt the same thing. I thought I was being crazy."

"Hm, maybe you are." He skimmed his nose along my neck before whispering in my ear. "I love you."

"Oh, how cute..." A voice sneered from the corner.

I felt my body tense against Edward. His head snapped to the direction the voice came from. I turned into Edward so I was facing the noise too. A large shadow was moving out of the corner, their shape obscured by a cloak.

"You both make me sick." The voice taunted again. I recognized that voice- the deep baritone of it had drunkenly yelled at me too often to forget.

"Charlie?" I called confusedly.

"Yes, darling, it's your father dearest. I must admit I wasn't expecting your precious Edward to be here." He pulled back the cloak and revealed his face. His skin now pale and smooth and his eyes the same blood red as mine.

"You're a… you're a…" I stuttered.

"You're a… You're a…" He mocked. "You stupid girl, you can't even speak right. That's right. I'm a vampire."

"But how?" I asked "And how did you get in here?"

Charlie chuckled darkly but said nothing.

"Jocelyn changed him." Edward told me, much to Charlie's dismay, whose face was instantly somber.

"So she was right." Charlie mused, sounding far more deranged then ever before while he was drunk. It sounded almost permanent now.

"He can teleport." Edward also stated.

"Yes, convenient, isn't it?" It was beginning to bother me how much Charlie sounded like the insane villain from a movie.

And then Jocelyn arrived through the door. She walked towards Charlie and linked her arm through his. I was thoroughly disgusted- my father with a girl my age.

I started shaking then. This was so terrifying. They looked so menacing and ready to fight. The idea of fighting my father was absurd. And it also looked like Edward was ready to fight to. The idea of him fighting either of them sent a thrill through my body. How I wished the others were here. How I wished Edward wasn't.

"Please, don't hurt him!" I begged. "If it's me you want, let him leave. You can have me!"

Charlie's eyes gleamed and instantly were focused on me. I didn't want to know what cruel thoughts were running through his head. He clearly wasn't sane at all anymore, whereas before he might have been at least slightly okay in the head.

"No!" Edward roared and jumped in front of me just as Charlie leapt at me, knocking Charlie out of the air.

I watched them, horrified, as they took punches at each others face. I was too distracted to notice Jocelyn advancing on me. "You whore! You ruined everything for me!" She yelled attempting to pounce on me. I sidestepped quickly.

Edward noticed this and was distracted, letting Charlie get a hold of him. "Edward!" I yelled and ran towards him. I attempted to pull at Charlie's arm before Jocelyn had jumped on me and wrapped her arms around my neck. I felt my stomach quench in attempt to gag.

I reached up and clawed at her arms but to no avail. I turned my face and bit her arm and tearing. I ripped a chuck of her granite skin with my teeth and she screamed, letting me go.

"Run, Bella! Get help!" Edward yelled before Charlie punched him square in the jaw. I heard a snap and froze. "Go!" He mumbled- due to his now probably broken jaw.

I nodded and tore out of the house, but not before making sure that Edward got the upper hand and Jocelyn was following me.

I traced the scent to the field they were playing at while making sure that Jocelyn was still on my trail but not close enough to get me. She was awfully slow and it was killing me.

"Bella?" Alice called as I stepped onto the field.

"Please, Charlie… Vampire… house… Edward… Come… now!" I spluttered.

Their eyes widened and only got larger when Jocelyn came into view. Her face registered horror.

"Rosalie, Alice, Esme- take care of her. Jasper, Emmett- you two come with me!" Carlisle yelled taking off in the direction of the house.

I let out a gust of wind that I'd been holding. Edward would be fine.

I heard Jocelyn turn to run and I quickly pounced on her, taking her down. I put my hands around her neck and shook her violently. It felt good to be able to let out all the fear and nerves and anger I'd been holding in.

She clawed at my face but I hardly noticed as my grip increased and her eyes bulged, a reaction to the loss of oxygen she didn't really need.

She rolled us over eventually and gained the upper hand. But that didn't last long because Alice pulled her off of me. The others then continued to rip her to shreds while I watched with a solemn face.

I wasn't sure how I watched it but I did. It all seemed surreal… some bad dream. Who would have thought this time last year that they'd be watching someone that people kill someone they'd once called family. I guess I chose not to believe, not to really think about it.

EPOV:

As soon as Bella took off I lost control. I'd stopped for one second, long enough for him to get away and disappear. Charlie then appeared behind me, pushing me to the ground. I stumbled in confusion before getting a hold of his arm. I pulled it almost hard enough to rip it off but he ran into me, dislodging his shoulder but keeping it intact. He disappeared again and didn't come back.

"Edward, look outside." I heard him call. I ran to the window to see him pushing his arm back into place with a demented grimace of pain.

I quickly jumped out of the window only for him to be gone by the time I landed.

A cackling sound came from the window I'd just left. "You'll have to be quicker then that!" He yelled gleefully.

I growled in annoyance and crouched. I'd wait for him to make the move. This was his game- confuse me and get me frustrated.

"Done already with my little game?" He pouted. "And I was so looking forward to playing."

He was gone then, only to elbow me in the back. I fell and he began to kick me in the sides until I couldn't breathe- the sensation more annoying then painful.

I turned on him as quickly as I could manage, grabbing his legs and tearing at them. He thrashed about, knocking me in the head. He let out a hiss before disappearing.

It was then that it occurred to me how his power worked. He couldn't teleport while others were touching him. All you had to do was maintain contact with him and he can't get away.

CarlislePOV:

We rushed through the forest until finally emerging. We all halted in our movements and stilled our breath, listening for them.

"This way," I deducted after hearing a loud thud coming from behind a house.

Edward was clinging desperately to Charlie as Charlie struggled to get away. It was so strange. It didn't look like fighting at all but wrestling to the finish line. "He can teleport but only if you're not touching him!" Edward yelled, explaining.

We all understood and immediately got to work getting a hold on Charlie. Edward stood shakily, slightly injured in his left leg and shoulder. The smile on his face was shockingly twisted as he approached Charlie, who he punched suddenly in the stomach, causing us to bend down with Charlie as he took the blow so we wouldn't loose hold of him.

**_So here's the story without the weird part with Bella in it that seems to be holding me back because I don't know how to continue it because it doesn't make much sense. Sorry about that..._**


	22. Chapter 22

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_**Wow, I am so, so, sorry for making you guys wait for so long! I honestly didn't mean to but I was feeling so uninspired to write that I just couldn't. I'm still not really feeling it so, sorry if this chapter kind of sucks.**_

EPOV:

I continued to punch and tear at Charlie until he resembled more of a crumbled marble statue then a vampire.

"Edward," I heard Bella's voice call in the distance and I was distracted immediately from Charlie. She sounded so desperate.

"Finish him," I commanded to my family dashing off to find my love.

"Bella," I breathed as she came into view from the far edge of our property. I sped up until I had her wrapped completely in my arms, holding her shaking frame close to my own. "Are you okay?" I asked quickly pulling her away from me as my eyes frantically swept her body. After assessing there was no obvious damage I pulled her back.

"Yes, I'm fine. Are you okay? I tried to go as fast as I could but I wanted to make sure I didn't loose Jocelyn. I didn't know what else to do! I didn't want her to go back and try to double team you. You look awful! I'm so, so sorry, Edward! This whole thing is my fault! If I'd never been born you wouldn't have had any of this trouble and…"

"Stop!" I yelled, placing a silencing finger to her lips. "The very thought of you not being born tears me apart. I can't even begin to describe the pain. You are the very highlight of my life. Don't you dare ever talk like that again!"

She just nodded and she continued to cry silently, the guilty look never fading from her face.

"Bella, will you please quit being ridiculous! I'm fine, nothing that won't heal by tomorrow. See," I moved my jaw that had most likely been broken earlier without feeling any pain. "I'm perfectly fine."

She didn't look completely appeased. "It's still my fault they came here in the first place. You could have died, Edward!"

The realization of what would have happened if I hadn't been there hit me at once and I squeezed Bella so tight she made a hiccupping noise. "I could have lost you!" I spoke out loud so she would understand my sudden panic. "If I hadn't of come home it would have been just you and Charlie and Jocelyn. Two on one- you would have been helpless! Oh, my beautiful Bella, words can't describe how thankful I am that I got there when I did. Just moments later and… and…"

I chocked up and couldn't finish the sentence. I felt Bella give me a gentle squeeze, her brown eyes now calm and a reassuring smile was on her face. "You and I, Edward, we're fate, destiny- you name it. We were meant to be together, _forever_. Tonight was meant to happen. We can live without fear now and count our blessings that everyone is fine and no one came to harm tonight."

My heart swelled and as I leaned in to kiss the love of my life, several loud "Aws" echoed through our property. My eyes popped open as I finally took notice to my family standing only a few feet off who definitely heard Bella's speech about us together. I let out a loud growl of annoyance.

Bella leaned in and whispered in my ear, "We'll continue this later."

"I'll hold you to that." I whispered in return before being dragged off by Bella towards the house with the rest of our family.

BPOV:

After burning the remains of Jocelyn, we hurried back over to the house. I was pretty sure everyone was pretty anxious themselves, but none of them could quite understand the sheer terror I felt from leaving Edward alone with Charlie and the compulsive, overwhelming need to get back to the house.

When we were close I found myself calling out Edward's name.

Edward met me at the edge of the Cullen property and immediately I found myself in his comforting embrace. I hadn't even realized I was crying and shaking until my own quivering body was pulled against his solid one. Instantly I felt safe and assured. He breathed my name and I was like a lullaby, only further accentuating the calming sensations that Edward had.

"Are you okay?" He asked, pushing me away from him so he could check for any signs of me being hurt. I could have cried at the feeling of being far away from him. But before I could complain I found myself again in his arms.

"Yes, I'm fine. Are you okay? I tried to go as fast as I could but I wanted to make sure I didn't loose Jocelyn. I didn't know what else to do! I didn't want her to go back and try to double team you. You look awful! I'm so, so sorry, Edward! This whole thing is my fault! If I'd never been born you wouldn't have had any of this trouble and…"

I trailed off as I continued blubbering like an idiot. I really couldn't help it. I was so worried something happened to him. The idea of it ripped me to pieces inside and breathing was suddenly harder.

"Stop!" I heard Edward yell. Which stopped all internal rampage and focused all my attention to what he was saying. "The very thought of you not being born tears me apart. I can't even begin to describe the pain. You are the very highlight of my life. Don't you dare ever talk like that again!"

I just nodded. I still couldn't get rid of that nagging feeling like I caused way to much trouble for the Cullens. I certainly wasn't worth it, especially if any harm did come to them, most of all to Edward.

"Bella, will you please quit being ridiculous! I'm fine, nothing that won't heal by tomorrow. See," He moved his jaw that I thought Charlie had broken earlier with ease. "I'm perfectly fine."

"It's still my fault they came here in the first place. You could have died, Edward!" I yelled hysterically. The very thought making me overwhelming, crushingly sad.

Edward's body stiffened and suddenly he was yelling hysterically too. "I could have lost you! If I hadn't of come home it would have been just you and Charlie and Jocelyn. Two on one- you would have been helpless! Oh, my beautiful Bella, words can't describe how thankful I am that I got there when I did. Just moments later and… and…"

He was chocked up and I wasn't even sure if he realized that he was now dry sobbing and crushing me against him. Although I didn't mind the last part, I hated to see Edward in such visible pain.

I gave Edward a small squeeze to get his attention and tried to rearrange the features on my face until they were under control and calm. "You and I, Edward, we're fate, destiny- you name it. We were meant to be together, _forever_. Tonight was meant to happen. We can live without fear now and count our blessings that everyone is fine and no one came to harm tonight."

He smiled brilliantly and I couldn't help but to feel that familiar rush of pride and adoration that I had somehow hooked someone as perfect as him.

He leaned in to kiss me when suddenly the rest of the Cullen family decided to make their appearance known by aw'ing loudly. Edward growled in response to the interrupting and if I could have I would have been blushing.

"We'll continue this later." I whispered into his ear.

"I'll hold you to that."

He responded and I fought off the shudder of anticipation, instead, dragging him to the house with the rest of the family.

Once inside, we were all settled into the spacious family room of the house and I was perched on Edward's lap as he absent mindedly stroked my hair as Carlisle spoke.

We were still discussing everything that had happened earlier that day, making sure that every possible detail was spoken and the whole family was completely aware of everything. At the moment Carlisle was doing a quick recap making sure he had everything straight, which of course he did.

"Well, I guess that's it now that everything is settled out. I'm happy to say that now this family can live worry free." He grinned at this point. "You can all do whatever you please."

Before I could really register what was happening Edward had whisked me away to his room. As he sat us down on the corner of his bed I could feel his breath fast and heavy against my neck as he spoke in that alluringly husky voice of his. "We may be safe, but I never, ever will let you out of my sight." His voice held that a certain promising ring to it. "But for now, all I want is for us to continue what was so rudely interrupted earlier."

I breathily agreed as he planted butterfly kisses across the exposed skin of my neck and collar bone. "Mmm, Edward, I love you so much."

"I truly love you as well, Miss Swan. You are my world." He spoke before capturing my face between his large palms and pressing his lips against mine in a mind blowing kiss.

Our lips moved in sync and our tongues battled for dominance. My hands tangled themselves in Edward's hair of their own accord and I felt one of Edward's hand slide down my back until it pressed firmly against my lower back. He pulled me until I was ontop of him. Our kissing was heavy and I could feel myself loosing all control. My hands detangled themselves from his hair and I brought my hands under his shirt, feeling the contours of his abs.

He groaned softly and pulled away. Rejection washed through me. "Bella, you make it so hard to refuse you."

"Then why are you?" I questioned, my throat closing up as if I was about to cry.

My broken tone caught his attention and his now black eyes met mine, worry causing his eye brows to come together. "What's wrong?"

"I don't understand why, even now that I'm like you, you still don't want me, Edward. Am I not good enough for you? Am I doing something wrong?"

Shock and appall covered his face. "Never!" He spoke loudly. "You are far too good for me and you have done nothing wrong at all. Quite the opposite actually- you are far too good for your own good. I just can't explain why yet."

I sighed. "Honestly, Edward, you're ridiculous."

I shoved myself away from him, positively livid. I loved Edward with all my heart and I wanted to finally be able to be together with him physically. I guess he just didn't feel the same. I couldn't blame him. I was no Jocelyn.

I let out a dry sob and took off running until I was outside the house. I didn't know what to do with myself. I'd never felt so hurt or alone or unwanted- rejected, even all those times Edward pulled away before. At least he had a reason then…

EPOV:

Bella was gone before I could even respond to her comment.

"Alice!" I cried in shock as I opened the door to find her standing there.

"I saw what happened." She announced glumly before handing me a small velvet box. "You really know how to fuck things up with her, Edward. I'll give you that. By the way this just came in the mail. Go fix this, quick."

I nodded, immediately knowing what it was because I had saw the ring inside the box in a jewelry store a few weeks ago and knew right away that when the time came to ask Bella to marry her, this would be the ring. I ordered it to be engraved and gave them our soon to be address to have it shipped to.

I followed the trail Bella had left until I found her sitting at the bottom of a large tree with her legs curled up to her chest, dry-sobbing her heart out.

My heart wrenched and I felt ten times more awful then when she had originally ran out on me. "Bella," I called tentatively.

"Go away, Edward." She whispered, her voice sounding hollow and void- a shell of my lively Bella.

I ignored her and advanced forward anyways. Her eyes were so dejected and I had caused it. I grabbed her hands and she watched warily as I pulled her up. Instantly she was livid. A loud smack echoed through the forest and it took a second to realize that she had slapped me.

"I deserved that. Keep going, by all means." I offered.

Her jaw clenched and her hands formed tense fists as her eyes clamped shut. She held her hands like that until her already white knuckles were a ghostly color. She let out a deep breath through her before unclenching her fists and opening her eyes. "I just need to be alone."

"Please, Bella, you don't understand."

"Then, please, Edward, explain to me why you still keep rejecting me! I don't want to hear your bullshit anymore! Just be honest with me!" She yelled and then took another calming breath. "Please," She breathed pleadingly.

My eyes closed and I ran my hands through my hair. "I'm sorry, Bella. I'm sorry for constantly pushing you away. I'm sorry because I can never seem to get anything right. I'm sorry I'm always hurting you. I just want to do everything right, but it seems I get everything more wrong then I could have imagined and end up hurting you instead."

She let out a hallow laugh and that was it. So I kept going. "The reasons why I pushed you away then is because I was waiting."

"Waiting to do what?" She asked in that same blank tone.

"For you to be mine, permanently, on paper, for the rest of the world to see," I explained vaguely.

"Please, stop with the mind games and just tell me what you're talking about." She was almost begging.

I felt her eyes follow me as I got down on one knee. I maintained eye contact as I pulled that velvet box from my pocket and held it up for her to see. Her eyes looked like they would pop from their sockets and her perfect mouth fell open into a cute little 'o' shape.

"Isabella Marie Swan, I know that we have had some hard times." She half smiled, half grimaced. "And I know I have done every possible thing wrong that could be imagined and have hurt you countless times and let you down, but still you have stuck with me and put up with my mood swings and loved me all the same. And I love you more then any thing I have ever known. You light up my world and give reason to my life. You've made me see that we can have souls and that I'm not just a monster- despite what I've done to you. And now I'm ranting because I'm not sure what to say. You make me nervous and I was going to plan all this out and come up with a perfect speech, but due to me messing up yet again, I'm making it up on the spot. But, what I'm trying to say is, Bella, my love, will you make me the happiest man alive and do me the honor of being my wife?"

She just laughed along with a little cry and flung her arms around my neck while repeating, "Yes, yes, yes, yes!"

I wrapped my arms around her waist and spun her in a circle. "I love you. Oh my God, Bella, I love you more then words can describe. You have made me the happiest man alive!" I yelled.

When I stopped spinning her I placed her on the ground after giving her a final squeeze. I placed the ring on her finger before kissing her palm. It fit perfectly.

"Do you understand now? I want to wait to consummate our relationship until after were married. I've done so much damage already I want to prove to you that I love you before doing anything like that. Please, tell me you forgive me."

"Of course, Edward, you were just being the same perfect, thoughtful boyfriend as always and like always I overreacted and jumped to conclusions. I'm sorry."

BPOV:

I frowned. Edward was the most perfect boyfriend, now fiancé, ever. I was nowhere near good enough for him. I freak out because he stopped us from doing anything without a reason and it turns out the reason is because he wants to wait until marriage and was going to propose. Well, aren't I a horny bitch?

"Don't be sorry, love. If anyone is to blame it's me. I always mess up and hurt you. I promise I won't ever hurt you like that again, my love. Just know that I do want you, badly and it killed me to have to stop there. I would like nothing more then to ravish that wonderful body of yours but my pre-twenty-first century upbringings and worry for your soul keep me from doing just that. It has nothing to do whatsoever with me 'not wanting' you." He grinned, my favorite crooked smile.

Once again, Edward was making me swoon. I sighed. "What did I ever do to deserve you? You are beyond perfection."

"I could say the same thing." He placed a kiss on my lips.

I returned it for a few seconds before pulling away. "Wouldn't want to push your boundaries…" I explained with a laugh.

He chuckled and grabbed my hand. "Come on, future Bella Cullen, let's go home."

I grinned, ecstatic. I liked the sound of that. My future seemed bright and peaceful. I couldn't imagine anything better then spending the rest of my life as Edward's wife and sister or daughter to the rest of the Cullen/Hale family. I couldn't wait until I was official. Yeah, my life was perfect.

_If you love me  
Why'd you let me go?  
I took my love down to Violet Hill  
There we sat in snow  
All that time she was silent still  
So if you love me  
Won't you let me know?_

_I want the moon and the stars  
I want the whole nine yards  
I want your hands on my hips  
I want you kissing my lips  
I want the moon and the stars  
I want the whole nine yards  
I take off your shirt, you pull up my skirt  
And I can't wait forever boy  
And the moon and the stars  
The look in your eyes better find its way into me _

_**First song is Violet Hill By Coldplay and the second was Waves and the Both of Us by Charolett Sometimes.**_

_** There you go! My last chapter of this story. *Sniffle* Actually, I'm glad to see it over. Kinda bored with it. I could possibly write a sequel but that is highly, highly unlikely. Or at least until I finish my other stories. Life is too busy but I did it- I finally wrote a chapter. It's kinda really sucky but whatever at least you've got something to read. And I couldn't write a good proposal for some reason. I'm not feeling too romantic at the moment. Oh well... Thanks for reading my story! And thank you too all my reviewers!!! PLEASE REVIEW FOR MY LAST CHAPTER!!!! 3333 you all!  
**_


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